He is ignorant and uncultured. You desire his conversion--in the
mission. You wish him well--at a convenient distance. You would much
more quickly help send a missionary to the Chinese in China than be a
missionary to a Chinaman in America, would you not? Think it over,
Christian, and determine your personal relation to the immigrant. Is he
a brother man, or a necessary evil? Will you establish a friendly
relation with him, or hold aloof from him? Does your attitude need to be
changed?
[Sidenote: The Alien Point of View]
What, now, do you suppose this "undesirable" immigrant thinks of America
and Protestant Christianity? What has he reason to think, in the light
of his previous dreams and present realizations? What does Protestant
Christianity do for him from the time he reaches America? What will he
learn of our free institutions--in the tenement slums or labor camps or
from the "bosses" who treat him as cattle--that will teach him to prize
American citizenship, desire religious liberty, or lead a sober,
respectable life? If we are in earnest about the evangelization of the
immigrant we must put ourselves in his place occasionally and get his
point of view. When we think fairly and rightly of the immigrant, and
treat him in real Christian wise, he will soon come to think of us that
our religion is real, and this will be a long step toward the change we
desire him to undergo.
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