An article in the Wall Street Journal discussed the lack of unity among Evangelicals around immigration issues. Apparently, our Christian friends are unable to find consensus on this topic - some favor Christian compassion while others believe that law breakers should be punished ...
Despite their past unity on other issues, some evangelicals are divided over how to treat people who are breaking the law and worried they will be tainted as racist if they advocate penalties. "When someone speaks out, they're portrayed as being against immigration," says Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group. "They're being more cautious, afraid of being misconstrued."
Tony, how much speaking out have you done about white collar crime which destroys hundreds of thousands of lives every single day? How about the President's illegal activities -- have Evangelicals united around that? Or any other crimes -- poaching, dumping, rape, molestation, tax evasion ...
This issues involves a lot of Hispanic Evangelicals who oppose punishing poor undocumented workers. It comes down to how you interpret the Bible -- crack down on law breakers or help strangers .... now which was a parable that Jesus used? Hmmm...
This is an interesting non-debate because it really brings to light that there are two issues that connect the Evangelical community - gays and abortion.
Guess what Jimmy Dobson? You can proclaim immigation an issue that doesn't define an evangelical, but I'm guessing the 2006 elections will prove different as the Evanglical voting block splits on this very front burner issue.
