Trump’s Spiritual Adviser: Sure, Jesus Was A Refugee, But He Didn’t Do Anything Illegal
July 11, 2018
In the face of a global refugee crisis, Christians from Pope Francis to American evangelicals have tried to inspire sympathy for people fleeing violence and persecution by pointing out that Jesus himself was once a refugee.
The Christian Gospels suggest that Jesus’ family fled to Egypt shortly after he was born to escape a massacre ordered by a tyrannical king. The family lived in Egypt until the death of that king.
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Muhammad’s Story
By Kristy Perano
I thought I was good at trusting in God’s sovereignty until last January 26th, 2017.
That was when I got personally involved with trying to help an Afghan refugee family marked for death by the Taliban and left behind by our country. Muhammad had faithfully served the US military in Afghanistan as an interpreter from 2003 until 2010, then worked for the UN for three years before fleeing with his wife and daughters to Pakistan to live in hiding illegally as a refugee, losing all contact with the US military in the process. Hunted by both the Taliban and the Pakistani government, he and his family are living in critical danger.
US Accepts Record-High Percentage of Christian Refugees
June 29, 2018
The United States is accepting an increasingly large share of Christian refugees, primarily from Africa, while the number of total arrivals remains on track for a historic low this fiscal year, federal data show.
With three-quarters of the fiscal year over, and amid massive cuts to the U.S. refugee program under the Trump administration, nearly 68 percent of arriving refugees this fiscal year are Christian — a 16-year high, according to State Department statistics reviewed by VOA. Prior to this year, the highest proportion was in fiscal 2007, at 60 percent.
Read more from VOA News>>
America Loves Refugees, Celebrates World Refugee Day Nationwide
June 25, 2018
In honor of refugees worldwide on Wednesday, June 20, World Relief celebrated World Refugee Day with national and local activities to highlight refugees’ stories and equip Americans to welcome and resettle those newly arrived in their communities. Since 1979, World Relief has helped 300,000 refugees make America their home, and the results were celebrated across the country this week.
Read more from The Buffalo News>>
Latest Immigration Controversy Points to Possible Political Shift Among Evangelicals
June 22, 2018
White evangelical Protestants may be among President Trump’s strongest supporters, but some evangelical leaders have spent the past decade quietly steering the movement away from hardline views on immigration, culminating in their public opposition to Trump’s policy of family separation at the border earlier this month.
One leader credits evangelical opposition with playing a role in Trump’s decision this week to reverse the policy.
Read more from National Catholic Register>>
Pelosi Backs Catholic Bishops in Declaring That ‘Separating Babies From Their Mothers is Immoral’
June 22, 2018
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) on Thursday backed a statement that had been put out earlier by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which declared that “separating babies from their mothers is immoral.”
Both Pelosi and DiNardo were making the point while, as DiNardo put it in his statement, “condemning the continued use of family separation at the U.S./Mexico border as an implementation of the Administration’s zero tolerance policy.”
Read more from CNS News>>
Southern Baptist Convention Reaffirms Support for Immigrants
June 22, 2018
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) overwhelmingly passed a resolution affirming its support for immigrants and call for immigration reform during its annual meeting Tuesday.
The resolution highlights the importance of maintaining family unity, the need for a pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants with appropriate restitutionary measures, and the importance of secure borders.
Read more from El Lider USA>>
Christian leaders divided on Trump border policy, family separations
June 22, 2018
The images and sounds of the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy flashed across television screens and social media posts: Wailing toddlers flanked by armed Border Patrol agents. Children huddled under foil blankets in detention centers. A seven-minute recording of weeping youngsters crying out “Mami!” and “Papa!”
Read more from Houston Chronicle>>
Can Evangelicals Take Credit for Trump’s Reversal on Family Separation?
June 21, 2018
The political fight over what will happen with thousands of immigrant children and their families on the US-Mexico border also became a test of the political clout of evangelicals close to the president. With the president’s decision Wednesday to revise what’s become known as the family separation policy, it appears that his faith advisors and the evangelical community at large may have played a crucial role in convincing President Trump to reverse course.
Read more from CBN News>>
In Snub to Trump’s Border Policy Pope Francis Defends Migrants in Twitter Messages
June 21, 2018
Pope Francis defended aiding migrants in a series of Twitter messages on Wednesday, a rebuke to U.S. border policy and other countries’ immigration policies.
He chose World Refugee Day, a United Nations-devised observance, to tell his followers that “Saving the life of someone fleeing war and poverty is an act of humanity.”