For many
conservative Christians, the brutal headlines of children torn from hysterical
parents are weighed against other concerns, chief among them what
social conservatives call religious liberty regarding issues of marriage
and abortion.
But the remarks of
many conservative Christians point to what is perhaps the biggest driving force
in the diverging attitudes toward the border crisis: culture war. A desire not
to be on the same side as secular, socially liberal forces that to many are by
far the biggest threat to America.
White evangelicals
— who have been among President Trump’s strongest supporters and
who perhaps more than any other faith group have Trump’s ear — share the
denunciations of families’ being separated, but they believe the issue is more
nuanced than media portrayals suggest, and they still view strong support of
Trump as important to their other aims.
More liberal faith
groups have loudly criticized the Trump administration on this issue. A long
list of denominations — several historically black churches, Quakers, Muslim
groups, mainline Protestant groups such as the United Methodist
Church and the Presbyterian Church (USA), almost every major Jewish group —
have issued strong statements condemning the family separations. Many religious
leaders took up the call in their sermons this week, some especially objecting
to Sessions’s use of the Bible to defend the policy.
Catholic
bishops called separating families “immoral” and floated the
idea of holding prayer vigils in front of federal courthouses — a tactic
that has worked in opposing abortion clinics.
The Southern Baptist Convention, the
nation’s largest Protestant denomination, passed a resolution favoring a
legal solution that considers a path to citizenship and calling for families to
be kept together, as well as endorsing the importance of border security.
Other religious
conservatives see the sudden prominence of immigration in the news — when
problems have existed for decades — as a Democratic scheme to slam Trump, and
are focused on shoring up support for a president they consider their ally in
protecting what they see as the Christian character of America. They are far
more focused on what they see as a war for the Christian soul of America, So
even if conservatives in his sphere disagree with the White House policy of
separating families, they’re not going to partner with more liberal or
progressive voices. This is a battle for ideological supremacy.
While conservative
evangelicals say they want to find compromise on immigration, that are
suspicious of critics of the administration and believe that keeping the Trump
movement together needs to come first. They point to one of evangelicals’ key
goals in voting in Trump, the appointment of a conservative Supreme Court
justice — and note that that justice, Neil M. Gorsuch,
recently participated in the high court’s decision in favor of a
baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.
The culture war, in
other words, rages on.
