What’s missing, Reverend?

For all the high-sounding, compassionate quotations Rev. Charles Hoffacker repeated in his warning against tyranny (Maryland Independent, “Tyranny respects no one,” Feb. 3), where’s the respect for rule of law? Note also Rev. Hoffacker never once quoted biblical scripture or the U.S. Constitution in rebuking tyranny, and in so doing failed to convey stronger understanding all citizens need to practice better — per St. Paul’s Acts 23:6 wisdom, without intentionally reviling legally elected leadership.

Biblically, we know from I Samuel 8, the Old Testament kings, Pontius Pilate the Herods and Romans 13, for good or ill, any sinful human executive will behave as a tyrant compared to God and His Christ. A certain level of tyranny is necessary to exercise effective authority. The only question left to solve is the current earthly tyrant chosen, knowing they will serve their own self-interests when pressured. Even I Peter 2:13-17 obliges every Christian, by I Tim. 3 default moreso a Christian minister, to respect the rule of law, giving honor to rulers in authority. Why aren’t we seeing that understanding in print from a Christian minister?

In this country, all elected federal officials are subordinate to the U.S. Constitution — if they and the voters who elect them will respect the rule of that law and “love thy neighbor as thyself.”

I married a refugee and helped her become a naturalized U.S. citizen. We’ve been through the naturalization process to know it well, something which cannot be assured of refugees whom the law expects to return home when able, moreso when they hold a creed historically exhibiting hostility to our country. Our naturalization cycle took 15 years because our Congress chronically fails to uphold its nominal authority to legislate a truly uniform rule of naturalization (U.S. Constitution, Art. I, Sec. 8, Para. 4).

Instead, politicians of both parties over several administrations have ceded ever more authority to the president, keeping things like Temporary Protected Status to woo votes — even when the conditions initially evoking TPS no longer exist; its continuance fomenting a legal morass only attorneys profit from.

Profiling refugees and immigrants to discern their true loyalties and exclude enemy agencies is nothing new, either — but how many native born U.S. citizens have actually read 8 U.S.C. or immigration forms? Until the unwitting critics of our nation’s immigration policy start understanding how immigration law really works at ground truth, advocating ignorance serves no sensible purpose against tyranny. In our experience, naturalized citizens seem to understand and cherish their citizenship better than the natives who need to relearn the constitutional rule of law.

I hope Rev. Hoffacker’s parisioners and other understanding citizens expect wiser admonitions from him after reading this response.

Deran S. Eaton, Waldorf