Evangelical Coalition Backs Humane Immigration Reform

^{See also: Top 10 Blogs on Immigrants' Rights}

The Roman Catholic Church has long been a strong voice for humane immigration reform, but now evangelical Protestant groups are joining the fight. According to The New York Times, a new group called Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform has just petitioned Congress for a new immigration policy that includes a citizenship track for undocumented immigrants. The new coalition seems to represent a growing movement in the evangelical community:

In late March, Dr. Richard Land, the conservative president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, stood with Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, in supporting routes to legalization for illegal immigrants.

The Rev. Joel Osteen, whose television ministry reaches millions but who steers clear of politics, has also spoken out for compassionate changes.

Immigration "for us is a religious issue, a biblical issue," said the Rev. Jim Wallis, president of a liberal evangelical group, Call to Renewal, and a member of the coalition. "We call it welcoming the stranger."

The phrase "welcoming the stranger" comes from Matthew 25:31-46, a passage referred to as the Judgment of the Gentiles. Excerpt:

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory ... Then the king will say to those at his right hand, "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom ... for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me ..."

Then he will say to those at his left hand, "You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire ... for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me ..."

The tradition of welcoming the stranger is deeply rooted in the Hebrew Bible as well. Take Leviticus 19:33-34, for example:

When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

This view is not, however, universally accepted in the evangelical community. According to an April 2006 poll conducted by the Pew Research Center, 64% of white evangelicals believe that immigrants (both legal and illegal) are "a burden because they take our jobs, housing, and health care" and 63% described immigration (again, both legal and illegal) as a threat to "traditional American customs and values."

Some hard-right groups that claim to represent evangelicals are even more hostile towards immigrants. In a Spring 2006 poll, 90% of Family Research Council members supported the mass deportation of all 12 million undocumented immigrants. Of course, the Family Research Council is out of sync with the values of most evangelical voters in other areas as well--in a 2004 poll conducted by ONE.org, 90% of American evangelicals described global AIDS funding and poverty relief as a priority. The Family Research Council often objects to global AIDS funding programs, referring to them as "an airlift for condoms," and poverty relief appears nowhere on the FRC's list of policy areas.

The evangelical debate over immigration reform is only one of many debates within the evangelical movement. It is very rare to find anyone, in any demographic, who has a passionate libertarian commitment on every single civil liberties issue. This is why, outside of the ACLU, most effective civil liberties coalitions are issue-specific.

Read more:

• New Coalition of Christians Seeks Changes at Borders (New York Times)
• Attitudes Towards Immigration: In the Pulpit and the Pew (Pew Research Forum)
• Who Would Jesus Deport? (Freezerbox)