Thread: Immigration issues prove vexing for evangelicals

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Immigration issues prove vexing for evangelicals
By G. Jeffrey MacDonald
RELIGION NEWS SERVICE
Saturday, January 21, 2006


Advocates at World Relief, the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals, can usually expect a warm greeting from large evangelical groups wielding clout in the halls of Congress.

But this year, they're getting a downright chilly reception to one of their priority agenda items: immigration reform.

As Congress grapples with legislation regarding an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants, the nation's most powerful conservative Christian organizations have been watching from the sidelines. This occurs despite many years of evangelical initiative to make America a hospitable haven for religious and political refugees. The search to explain the silence leads through several layers of reasoning.

For starters, the Christian right says it has other issues at the moment, such as the confirmation of conservative judges and the battle against same-sex marriage. Beyond that, some suspect that evangelicals don't want to appear soft on lawbreakers of any kind. And on a level that plumbs the depths of what it means to bear Christian witness, evangelicals confide that they are still struggling as a community to determine the right thing to do.

Among Southern Baptists, for instance, "there's no consensus about what to do about the (illegal immigrants) who are already here or about how we would allow legal immigration," says Richard Land, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, which articulates public-policy positions for the 16 million-member Southern Baptist Convention. Southern Baptists "see a basic distinction between people who are refugees, who are in fear of losing their life and home ... and those who are coming over primarily for economic reasons and are not abiding by the immigration laws." Because mass deportation "isn't realistic," Land says, the denomination needs to wrestle longer with what to do.

Evangelicals on the immigration front lines say that time is running out.

Near Tucson, Ariz., Maryada Vallet travels the desert in a pickup truck, stopping to feed undocumented border crossers, and also washing their blistered feet. It's a gesture from biblical accounts of what Jesus did for his disciples at the Last Supper.

Such inspired volunteer work, warns Amy Bliss, a staff attorney for World Relief, could lead to federal prosecution if a bill passed in December by the U.S. House of Representatives becomes law.

"Anyone who believes" in the biblical story of the gentile who stopped to help a wounded man, Vallet says, "should be outraged that ... the government is making it a crime to be a Good Samaritan."

Soon the U.S. Senate is expected to start reviewing the House-passed bill in committee. Liberal religious activists say that evangelical participation could make the difference between success and failure.

"To have the evangelical voice there (advocating) has been particularly important to this administration, which listens to them," says C. Richard Parkins, the director of Episcopal Migration Ministries for the Episcopal Church U.S.A., a mainline Protestant denomination with a liberal bent. "They have access to leadership that we've not had access to."

Yet despite appeals for help from evangelicals at World Relief, based in Baltimore, and Jubilee Campaign, based in Arlington, Va., the political heavy hitters have kept mum on immigration.

Amber Hildebrand, a spokeswoman for the Family Research Council, based in Washington, explains: "It's not that we don't think (immigration policy) is important. There have just been other issues the FRC has chosen to focus on." Gwen Stein, a spokeswoman for Focus on the Family, based in Colorado, gives the same reason for her group's reticence to take a stand.

The National Association of Evangelicals hasn't taken a position on immigration since 1985. At that time, as President Reagan was ushering in what was in effect an amnesty program for illegal aliens, the NAE pledged "to eliminate the spirit of racism in any of our responses" and "show personal and corporate hospitality to those who seek a new life in our nation."

Led by evangelical organizers at World Relief, 42 national religious groups and 69 local ones signed a statement in October calling for a process to let undocumented immigrants apply for legal status. Signatories ranged from the Union for Reform Judaism to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In Congress, debate hinges largely on whether immigrants who pay a fine and other penalties should be able to then pursue legal status. A bill proposed by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., would allow for such a process, while President Bush's guest-worker proposal would require the undocumented to leave after a designated period. Whether family members should be separated or kept together also looms large as an issue up for grabs.

Evangelicals' hesitancy traces, observers say, to political as much as moral reservations. Evangelicals might be inclined to sympathize with fellow Christians from south of the border who have taken a grave personal risk in order "to support their families back at home," Bliss says, but those views apparently can't survive in public discourse.

"The rhetoric is considered a liberal issue," Bliss says. "Fear of looking weak or too liberal permeates a lot of the discussion. I think that's the concern."

Evangelical groups, if determined to appear tough on illegal immigration, could endorse the House-approved bill, which provides for a fence along 700 miles of the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexican border, though it doesn't address the question of what to do with undocumented immigrants.

But evangelicals who appear unsympathetic toward immigrants run other political risks. They could alienate business interests, that is, political allies in industries known to employ thousands of undocumented workers. Faced with the specter of political costs no matter where they come down on immigration, leading evangelical groups are opting not to get involved. That means, barring an unexpected change of heart, the road to resolving the fates of some 11 million, mostly Christian immigrants to the United States seems certain to include minimal input from the evangelical conscience. And for evangelical outreach workers, that's distressing. "We can't just stand by and ignore this issue," Bliss says, "if for no other reason than because the international community is such an important part of the growing church."

But this year, they're getting a downright chilly reception to one of their priority agenda items: immigration reform.

It's about time. Send them back home to their churches to do church work. That's what they're paid to do and that's why they have tax exempt status...NOT TO ROAM OUR HALLS OF CONGRESS...in fact, it's ILLEGAL and a violation of their tax exempt status. Stay out of our politics or we'll put you on the street with no tax exempt status. Hear that? And WE mean it.

Among Southern Baptists, for instance, "there's no consensus about what to do about the (illegal immigrants) who are already here or about how we would allow legal immigration," says Richard Land, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, which articulates public-policy positions for the 16 million-member Southern Baptist Convention. Southern Baptists "see a basic distinction between people who are refugees, who are in fear of losing their life and home ... and those who are coming over primarily for economic reasons and are not abiding by the immigration laws." Because mass deportation "isn't realistic," Land says, the denomination needs to wrestle longer with what to do.

As a Southern Baptist, let me tell you that the ONLY thing for you wrestle with is how quick you can get your butts out of Washington and stay out. This meddling through lobbying has crossed the line. Now preach it, teach it, live it...but don't come roaming around our halls of Congress lobbying as a group any more for anything.

As individuals you need to study the situation and decide if you are going to stand up for the country that gives you the Freedom of Religion and at as the same time also gave you the greatest standard of living on the planet. You need to think about where we are as a nation and come to terms with the fact that if America disappears so will your freedom of religion and all the other guarantees and benefits of American Citizenship including your standard of living.

God doesn't expect nor would he want any Christain or Baptist to sell out their nation that preserves our freedoms to accommodate a bunch of free loaders.

"Charity" begins at home. If you want to help some poor people drive into any major city in America or any rural area of America. We've got more poor people than you can count or keep up them. Please focus your efforts on your fellow Citizens who need you and need you desperately.

But evangelicals who appear unsympathetic toward immigrants run other political risks. They could alienate business interests, that is, political allies in industries known to employ thousands of undocumented workers. Faced with the specter of political costs no matter where they come down on immigration, leading evangelical groups are opting not to get involved.

YET ANOTHER HYPOCRITICAL COP-OUT.
They ONLY speak out when it suits their OWN AGENDA. Since WHEN do Americans allow the RELIGIOUS RIGHT to determine POLICY??? Seems to me like it's time real Americans took a stand and stop this complacency. THIS IS NOT A THEOCRACY YET.

Why can't those wanting to "help" these illegal immigrants do so from countries that are sending their poor, oppressed across the borders. Why don't they take a stand and help them there instead of offering them help once they've crossed the border illegally? Makes no sense to me.

SEND THEM MISSIONARIES.

Originally Posted by Bootsie

SEND THEM MISSIONARIES.

Right!