Fountain overdoing it on Tebow

• Reprints

Updated: February 16, 2012 8:17AM

Writing about quarterback Tim Tebow, columnist John W. Fountain wrote: “God forbid that a young man would have the unmitigated gall to thank his ‘Lord and Savior Jesus Christ’ before beginning each press conference, or point to the sky after a big play, or kneel on the field and whisper thanks to his creator after a win.” But if I were a follower of Christ, I would probably disagree with Mr. Fountain’s triumphal sarcasm. I believe Jesus might, as well. As recorded in Matthew 6:5, Jesus warned his followers that “when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.”

I’ll leave it to the reader to decide if the Messiah — who once turned water into wine to help keep a party going — would find “Tebowing” any less offensive than the “gyrating, jiggling, and wiggling” that drives Mr. Fountain to his anointed fainting couch.

Sam Holloway, North Center

President Obama recently took a small, but important, first step in eliminating the painful separation of American families because of twisted immigration laws. Right now, the spouse of a U.S. citizen cannot apply for a green card in the U.S. if he or she originally entered without proper inspection by an immigration officer. To obtain lawful status, the immigrant must leave the U.S. and apply for a visa at a U.S. embassy in his or her home country. However, this sets up a Catch-22 because once the immigrant leaves the U.S. he or she is barred from returning for up to 10 years unless granted a waiver proving the U.S. citizen spouse would suffer extreme hardship as a result of this forced and xtended separation.

The waiver, known as an the “unlawful presence waiver,” can take months or even years to process because of bureaucratic backlogs. In the meantime the family is separated and the foreign spouse may be stuck in a dangerous place like Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. And there is no way of predicting if or when the family will ever be reunited. Under this new rule, families will be able to stay together while the waiver is being processed. This is exactly what Americans support — the protection of American families and honoring that bond.

Jackie Herrera Giron,
Waukegan