Christian stance on immigration: 'Obey the governing authorities'


by Len Munsil - Aug. 28, 2010 07:39 PM

A number of leading evangelicals recently announced plans to lobby senators in Washington for "comprehensive immigration reform."

I agree with them on many biblical essentials, including fervent opposition to racism and racial profiling and the importance of recognizing the dignity of every person.

Evangelicals must be clear that opposition to illegal immigration has nothing to do with race and that we value Latino Americans and their contribution to the vibrancy of our community, particularly in Arizona.

However, the "comprehensive reform" sought by some evangelical leaders violates biblical notions of Christian ethics, justice and God's purposes for government.

In 2006, I won the Republican nomination for governor of Arizona, and, during that campaign, I spent more than a year thinking and praying through the moral, legal and ethical issues surrounding illegal immigration. I heard from people on all sides.

I cried with a group of college-age students who were brought here illegally as children, who have no ability to legally go to college or hold a job in the only country they have ever known.

I also talked to friends of a couple who were killed by a runaway van packed with illegal aliens trying to evade the Border Patrol. I met with American citizens forced to abandon their homes and land near the border because they feared for their lives. I toured the border at night with a law-enforcement official as he recounted altercations with AK-47-toting drug cartels, and I shared his heartbreak at recovering dead bodies of children and pregnant women who tried to cross the desert.


Invitation from God

The prophet Isaiah records an invitation from God - "Come let us reason together." Yet confusion reigns among evangelicals when we take general biblical principles and use them to override more specific instruction.

Example: The New Testament teaches us to provide for the needs of our own family (1 Timothy 5:. But to use that general principle to justify embezzling from your employer, in violation of the specific command to "not steal," would be ridiculous.

Similarly, some evangelicals have taken general, truthful principles such as the requirement that individuals not "wrong" or "oppress" the alien, as justification for a type of immigration reform that violates clear biblical teaching and principles of justice.

When discussing our national response to this crisis, evangelical leaders manage to mostly ignore principles such as these from Romans 13:1-4:

"Everyone is to obey the governing authorities. . . . (W)hoever resists the authorities is resisting what God has instituted. . . . (F)or he is God's servant, there as an avenger to punish wrongdoers."


When to defy the law

These principles are not absolute, but defying the law is permissible in only two circumstances: when the law requires you to do something God forbids, such as participating in a murder, or when the law forbids you from doing something God commands. Thus, the Hebrew midwives refused to murder innocent babies at the command of their king (Exodus 1:15-17), while in the New Testament, Peter and the Apostles, when arrested for preaching the Gospel, continued to preach, saying they must "obey God and not man" (Acts 5:29).

There are many heart-rending, tragic stories of illegal immigrants that tug at the heartstrings of all Christians and people of faith.

But there is no serious argument that immigration laws force us to violate the law of God; and as a result, there is no biblical argument for defending or justifying such mass lawbreaking.

Scripturally, we know the primary purpose of government is to maintain the peace, security and order of a community or nation and to promote justice.

The whole concept of lawful vs. unlawful entry into a nation is based on principles of property rights that flow from the 10 Commandments. Those who violate our immigration laws by jumping the fence are stealing rights of citizenship (to live and work in America) and, in essence, coveting and stealing their neighbors' property.

"Love thy neighbor" works both ways, and those who break into their neighbor's property are violating that principle.


'Comprehensive reform'

Most significantly, the "comprehensive reform" favored by some evangelicals violates principles of justice.

It is an enormous injustice to tell those who have followed the legal-immigration process that they must wait, year after year, while those who have cheated and broken the law are allowed to pay a fine and stay.

Where is the justice for these hardworking, family-oriented citizens of Mexico and other nations who desire to work and live in America? They have behaved honorably, and "comprehensive reform" punishes them for their virtue.

Do we only have "compassion" for those who knowingly broke the law?

There are serious and principled scriptural reasons for enforcing laws against illegal immigration. The accusation that opponents of illegal immigration lack compassion or a commitment to justice is untrue.

Evangelicals can and should despise racism and oppose racial profiling, have compassion for the alien among us, and love and appreciate Latinos and the richness of Latino culture - yet still believe in the rule of law and the need for a strong governmental response to illegal immigration.

Len Munsil, a Scottsdale attorney, was the Republican nominee for governor of Arizona in 2006 and has been a professor of Christian ethics at Southwestern College. A detailed critique of evangelical proposals for comprehensive reform is available at www.lenmunsil.com.

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