Writers Note: If you missed the first reflection, you can find it here. This is a continuation of that post, but it is not necessary to read that one in order to understand this one.
The Second Reflection – The Evangelical Persecution of Immigrants and Political Opponents:
Introduction
A great deal has happened since I originally wrote this. Suffice to say, I think it is more timely than ever, but I lack the mental space to update it for current events.
The Immigrant “Threat” Myth
As I have discussed in the first reflection, one of the president’s acts was to suspend due process for immigrants 1. All because of misleading and dangerous claims made by him and others that they are violent criminals, rapists, or even animals.2
All of these statements are completely false or misleading at best. NPR, using data from various research institutes, shows that immigrants are up to 60% less likely to commit crimes while they are here.3
The Truth About Immigrants
Why are they less likely to commit crime? Because they have taken great pains and sacrifices to be here. Ask yourself, what sense would it make to commit a crime, violent or otherwise, and risk being deported back to the country that they fled from in the first place, or worse, is actively persecuting them?
Furthermore, they breathe life into communities that have suffered in the ever-growing sprawl of American civilization. Take Springfield, Ohio, for instance. 4 It is a town in which thousands of Haitians moved into the city and restored its crumbling economy and shrinking population.
Immigrant Persecution
Springfield was subject to the president’s dangerous ignorance with claims the Haitians were eating the towns pets.5 It caused the Haitian community in Springfield incredible distress, with neo-Nazi groups coming to the town to harass and threaten the community.
To show another, perhaps more personal point, the mass deportations are affecting Christian asylum seekers who have fled their home country. Two Iranian Christians were arrested by ICE and the agents simply claimed “They were simply following orders.”6 while the two individuals were in terror, one even thought they were back in Tehran due to their trauma.
I could not confirm if they were deported back to Iran, I pray they were allowed to stay in America for their own safety.
The administration is not simply arresting immigrants, but they are throwing them into a hastily built internment camps built in the middle of a Florida swamp with no AC or basic amenities (See fn. 7).
How does any of this show the love of Jesus?
The Evangelical Response
Some evangelicals may protest that the actions of the state do not represent the actions or beliefs of themselves or their religion. But I must ask, Is this not what you voted for? The president was very clear in his goals for America, he used “cleansing” language many times in reference to our immigrant brothers and sisters. Now he is using the same language for our left-leaning brothers and sisters.
This cowering behind the veil of an individualized faith is an illusion that is destroying not only our faith, but our nation as well. Your faith is not built upon a vacuum, nor are you entirely blameless for the actions of your brothers and sisters.
The Department of Homeland Security is quoting bible scriptures to try to legitimize their fight against immigration.7 This is despite the fact that the bible has nearly 2,000 references to protect the poor, the strangers, and the marginalized.8
Who Is My Neighbor?
Frankly, even if immigrants were as vile as the republican party and evangelicals claim, it is simply irrelevant from a Christian point of view. Because, according to Christ, it simply does not matter what these people do or do not do. Because Jesus commanded us to love our neighbors and our enemies (Matthew 5:43).
“He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?””
Luke 10:27-29 NRSVUE
Jesus then tells the story of the Good Samaritan. If you grew up Christian, you know what this parable implies. If you are unfamiliar with the parable, the good Samaritan is about a Jewish man who has fallen along the wayside. Three individuals pass him by: a priest, a Levite, and finally a Samaritan. Samaritans were considered enemies and religious rivals at the time Jesus taught this parable.
Jesus showed that two high-class individuals (within the community) could not be bothered to help a man within their own tribe, and yet it was the Samaritan who saved his life. This clearly shows that, not only are people outside their tribe moral and ethical, He showed that he expected that the entire world, even those we may consider to be the most vile of enemies, is our neighbor.
“The Least of These”
If that wasn’t clear enough, Jesus in Matthew explicitly tells us to care for these people. If we oppress or ignore these people, we are oppressing and ignoring Jesus.
…”Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’”
Matthew 25:39-45 NRSVUE
We also have a couple of direct commands from the Old Testament:
“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 native-born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
Leviticus 19:33-34 NRSVUE
“who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
Deuteronomy 10:18-19 NRSVUE
Therefore, these conservative Christians have little excuse for their endorsement of the poor treatment of immigrants. There is no world in which Christ did not expect them to be treated with dignity, honor, and respect. To reject them is to reject the teachings of Jesus found in the gospels.
The Persecution Complex
As I mentioned above, regarding the first fruit. This persecution extends to the opponents of the Christian Nationalist and Evangelical movements 9. Recently, Texas republicans pushed the most gerrymandered redistricting in modern history since 1965.10 They forced democrat lawmakers to walk with escorts to keep them from performing their right to break quorum, those who didn’t were forced to sleep in the state capital. 11
I find it hypocritical at best that these Christians believe that it is they who are being persecuted and abused, all the while battering their enemies senseless with a club. It reminds me of the children’s game “stop hitting yourself.”
It is the antithesis of everything Jesus represents in the gospels. He did not persecute anyone, even to death on the cross. Do evangelicals think themselves above the example and teachings of Christ?
Personal vs. Civic Responsibility
Many evangelicals and Christian conservatives try to delineate a line between personal responsibility and civic duty. It is a claim that Jesus was only talking about personal ethics. Don’t we bear the personal and civic responsibility anyway as a democratic nation?
Even if we were to live in an authoritarian regime, would that not infinitely increase our personal responsibility to help alleviate the suffering of our neighbors, Christian or otherwise?
Christ lived in an authoritarian empire. He healed the sick, fed the poor, and ate with sinners. He preached a gospel of inverting the social order: “Blessed are the poor.” He died on a Roman imperial cross for his beliefs. Seems to me that the personal responsibility of caring for your neighbor is a demand set by Christ’s example.
Anyway you look at it, engagement in politics, even just voting, is a personal and community-driven act. Thus Christians, conservatives or otherwise, must bear the responsibility and consequences of those policies they voted for. Not just them, but everyone everywhere.
Evangelicals like to claim that Jesus was not a political figure, all of their actions point to them believing that he is in fact a political figure. But instead they have made him a monster.
The Vile Fruit
Therefore, do not ignore the suffering the republican party is causing just because they have slapped a Christian label on their policies. As I have shown, this is a gross misrepresentation of the character of Jesus.
The fruit of their actions are made known through the extreme plight of the immigrant, both documented and undocumented, as they are suffering in unventilated internment camps, with exposed sewage and bug infestations on our own soil. 12
Footnotes/Citations
- American Immigration Council — “Mass Deportation: Analyzing the Trump Administration’s Attacks on Immigrants, Democracy, and America.” (Report) ↩︎
- NBC News — (Article about Trump’s degrading language toward immigrants). NBC News ↩︎
- NPR — “Immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born Americans, studies find.” Mar. 8, 2024. ↩︎
- American Immigration Council (Blog) — “Immigrants Are Making Ohio Great. Let’s Talk About That.” (Blog post) ↩︎
- BBC – “Trump repeats baseless claim about Haitian immigrants eating pets” ↩︎
- RNS – “Pastor films as masked federal agents arrest Iranian Christian asylum-seekers in LA” ↩︎
- RNS – “DHS is using the bible to promote ICE, Claiming ‘righteous fight’ against immigrants” ↩︎
- Sojourners – “A List of Bible Verses on Poverty, Justice, and Compassion” ↩︎
- Newsweek — (Article on Texas redistricting / Greg Abbott — headline varies by link). Newsweek. ↩︎
- Texas Tribune – “Gov. Greg Abbott signs new Texas congressional map designed to give GOP five more seats” ↩︎
- NBC – “Texas Democratic legislator is sleeping in the state Capitol after refusing security escort to leave” ↩︎
- AP News — “’Alligator Alcatraz’ detainees describe overflowing toilets, medicine denials.” AP News. ↩︎
