A Note from the Editor - Fall 1998

By Wayne Lutton
Volume 9, Number 1 (Fall 1998)
Issue theme: "Making the case for faith-based immigration reform"

As a recent Roper Poll indicated, large majorities of Americans who identify themselves as "strongly religious," Protestants and Roman Catholics, all support immigration reform. Yet, religious organizations and their leaders are not in the forefront of the immigration reform movement.

In an effort to reach an understanding of what appears to be a serious disconnect between pew and pulpit, we invited our Washington, D.C.-based contributors to explore aspects of this question. Jim Robb, founder of Evangelicals for Immigration Reform, outlines Scripture-based principles for immigration restriction. Roy Beck reviews a liberal Protestant study guide on how to treat refugees and international migrants. Then we present a heart-felt speech before a Unitarian congregation by Jonette Christian on how her views changed over time toward support of population stabilization. Our correspondent from Toronto, Mark Wegierski, discusses how immigration and related issues are treated by various Christian sects in Canada.

The United States has become a happy hunting ground for a United Nations of criminal factions. For over twenty years, Joseph Occhipinti battled alien criminals while working for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. We are pleased to publish a transcript of a recent interview of Mr. Occhipinti conducted by contributor Kevin Jenks.

British expatriate, and Forbes senior editor, Peter Brimelow addressed a seminar hosted by the Foundation Endowment at Windsor Castle this past summer. Many of our readers are sure to be challenged by his remarks, reprinted here.

The Social Contract continues to observe the Malthus Bicentennial. In another installment in this series of essays, which has gained notice from parties around the globe, David Simcox discusses population policies since the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

Environmental and population writer Bill McKibben hit the op-ed pages last Spring, while the debate over the Sierra Club's stance on immigration was receiving national attention. Dr. John Zmirak, currently based in New York City, replies to McKibben's call for American's to limit the size of their own families in order to make room for more immigrants.

We welcome Gerda Bikales back home after a three-year assignment in Paris. In this issue, she shares her reflections on the changed status of the immigration debate in France.

A lot of interesting material relating to our concerns is posted on the Internet. One of the best sites, both in terms of information and visual presentation, is that of CanadaFirst. Among their features is a series of twenty popular "Myths About Immigration." We include a sampling in this issue.

On our Bulletin Board, we have included the updated websites for Glenn Spencer's Voice of Citizens' Together, which is a site you will want to visit for their regular updates. Samuel Francis, who writes on our related issues more often than any other columnist in America, also has a new website address.

We end this issue with reviews of six recent books dealing with demographics, comparative culture, and global capitalism's impact on immigration.

Our Winter number will feature a discussion of the vexing question of creating more secure identification documents, and the tension this has created between immigration restrictionists and civil libertarians. David Simcox will help guide us through this minefield.

As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions.

Wayne Lutton, Ph.D., Editor

Letter to the Editor

Dear Sir

Your magazine is consistently excellent and uplifting. Thank goodness that someone is doing this valuable work. The latest issue on "Europhobia" was a valuable discussion of the anti-whiteness which is at the heart of the immigration problem.

One point Susan "the white race is the cancer of civilization/human history" Sontag, was quoted twice (on pages 289 and 314) but a reference for her notorious quote was never given. She said, "The white race is the cancer of human history. It is the white race and it alone - its ideologies and inventions - which eradicates autonomous civilizations wherever it spreads, which has upset the ecological balance of the planet, which now threatens the very existence of life itself." (Partisan Review, Winter 1967, p.57)

Alistair McConnachie

Edinburgh, Scotland