In general, Religious Globalists believe that the needs of people in the Third World have priority over the needs of people in more advanced nations when it comes to questions of whether migrants should cross borders. Underlying this is the assessment that most would-be immigrants come from conditions that are worse than those for the Americans who may be hurt by their entry.
Many of the news media have rushed headlines and speech summaries that state or suggest that Pope Francis today called on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform of some kind. I heard and read the speech and don't find that.
Posted Wednesday, Sep. 23 -- Today, Pope Francis avoided giving his opinions about what the U.S. should do with its immigration policies and instead stuck with broad principles.
Pope Francis I will be in the United States September 22-27 and will address a joint meeting of Congress on the 24th -- an historical first. All indications are that immigration issues will be at the forefront during his visit.
President Obama’s end-run of Congress to give around 5 million illegal aliens quasilegal status seems to be giving more and more Christians pause. The combination of acting outside the constitutional bounds, exercising what amounts to legislative powers reserved to Congress, plus the president’s bald-faced misuse of Scripture in an attempt to justify his highly questionable action may be backfiring.
The Washington Examiner broke the story on the new national poll of evangelicals by focusing on the disconnect between people in the pews and their highly visible pro-amnesty national leaders.
Biblical teaching about treatment of foreigners is more of a command to apply the law humanely to illegal immigrants than to give them work permits, according to three of four evangelical voters in a poll released here today at the National Religious Broadcasters annual convention.
This is the time of year when many pro-amnesty advocates in the pulpit and the press misuse the Bible to try to try to advance their cause. This year, churchgoers are fortunate to have access to a much different explanation of scripture, thanks to the emergence of a group called Evangelicals for Biblical Immigration and to a fascinating panel recently sponsored by the Heritage Foundation to inform congressional staffers and the media.
The super rich -- such as Mark Zuckerberg, George Soros, Michael Bloomberg and Robert Murdoch -- have been sponsoring evangelical lobbyists to persuade Republican U.S. Representatives that the evangelical voters in their political base want "comprehensive immigration reform." But polling finds that giving the super rich what they want would alienate most evangelical Republicans.
Earlier this week, an alliance of more than 100 leaders from the Evangelical community renewed their push for comprehensive immigration reform, including a mass amnesty for the nation's 11-18 million illegal aliens. The Evangelical Immigration Table, as they've called themselves since their formation in 2012, is urging Christians in the United States to consider immigration from a biblical perspective -- of course, they only want Christians to focus on their interpretation of a few biblical passages while ignoring many others.
Pope Benedict XVI reiterated the Catholic church's position on immigration, saying that nations have the right to regulate the flow of migrants and secure their borders. His comment is consistent with what the church has said in the past, but contradicts the position of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Terrible recent reports of a record pace of deaths of illegal aliens in the U.S. desert and in Mexico at the hands of ruthless gangs point an accusatory finger at the political, media and religious leaders of this country who talk incessantly about their plans to reward the act of illegal immigration with U.S. citizenship. It is not a stretch at all to say that people who talk big about winning a "comprehensive immigration reform" amnesty bear great guilt for enticing these illegal aliens to their deaths.
The Shirley Sherrod episode got a lot of journalists and politicians thinking this last week about how too many people far too quickly and easily toss around charges of racism without knowing the facts or the context. I found Pres. Obama's comment on ABC to be an excellent quote to offer back to the next pro-amnesty blogger, religious figure or politician who charges racism against our immigration-reduction movement or individuals within it.
Well, of course, if religious leaders were to support car thieves keeping the cars, we would all know those clergy were no longer fit to provide moral guidance. But this is essentially their argument when it comes to immigration: Illegal aliens who steal jobs should be allowed to keep them as long as they pay $1,000 and take English classes. Please tell me how that is any different from the headline on this blog.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Dr. James Edwards confounded supporters of amnesty at a U.S. House hearing on Wednesday by providing scriptural and theological reasons why an amnesty would be unethical. The hearing was conducted to make the case that there is an "ethical imperative" to reward millions of illegal aliens with permanent work permits and permanent residence in the U.S. But Dr. Edwards noted that showing that kind of mercy to illegal aliens would create a huge injustice against all the poor Americans who are unemployed. I suggest that you print or email this testimony for the pastor of your own congregation. -- ROY BECK, Founder & CEO of NumbersUSA.
Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee issued a response on Wednesday to the Immigration Subcommittee's hearing on the Ethical Imperative for Reform of our Immigration System. Members from the subcommittee listened to testimony from mostly pro-Amnesty religious leaders.
A Brookings Institute conference today about the near unanimity of the nation's religious leaders in favor of amnesty and more foreign workers cast the debate in stark moral absolutes. The Christian leaders repeatedly compared the fight for legalization of illegal aliens to the battles against slavery and segregation and pledged to convert and mobilize their members in the pews to force a vote on "comprehensive immigration reform."
A new poll conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute and funded by the Ford Foundation attempts to debunk a poll conducted a few months ago by Zogby and the Center for Immigration Studies. I invite you to compare the questions. I think you’ll find that the Zogby poll tries to reveal people’s opinions versus the Public Religion Research poll that tries to manufacture people’s opinions.
Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, attended the rally as an observer. He videotaped the event and reports that some of the participants were leaders of religious groups, including The National Association of Evangelicals.
NumbersUSA members have contributed nearly 100 comments on why they think their national religious leaders are aggressively lobbying for more foreign workers while a new Zogby poll finds that large majorities of Christians and Jews oppose importing more immigrant workers. Take a look at the comments . . .
Roy appeared on Fox & Friends on Jan. 3, 2010 to discuss a new Zogby poll that revealed the differing opinions of church leaders and their followers on immigration issues. For more information, see http://www.numbersusa.com/content/nusablog/beckr/december-28-2009/zogby-poll-finds-few-pew-agree-their-pro-amnesty-religious-leaders-a
Perhaps the most striking results of a massive new Zogby poll show that while their religious leaders mouth the arguments of the Chamber of Commerce for more cheap foreign labor, the vast majority of church and synagogue members show a strong preference for low-wage and jobless Americans. . . .
A new Zogby poll shows vast differences on immigration issues between church leaders and the people sitting in their pews. Several months ago, leaders from the National Association of Evangelicals and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops supported a mass amnesty before the Senate Immigration Subcommittee, but the majority of their followers prefer an approach of tougher enforcement instead.
One of the largest polls on immigration ever conducted has proven what we suspected all along: National religious leaders who are lobbying Congress for ever-more immigration simply don't represent much of anybody. A good way for a Member of Congress to lose considerable votes back home would be to do on immigration what they are asked by the leaders of most national religious agencies. Most Christians and Jews want LESS immigration, not more, Zogby found.
The following groups have all announced that they support a mass amnesty. The groups are divided into four separate categories, including: advocacy, business, unions and religious denominations. We have provided the contact information for each group, and if you are affiliated with one or more of these organizations, we encourage you to contact them to express your opposition to their position.
Advocacy Groups
Sen. Chuck Schumer's attempt to claim overwhelming evangelical Christian support for his pending amnesty legislation has crumbled. His master plan was to use the staff and leadership of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) to give the impression of near unanimity. The NAE tried. But after the members in the pew erupted, only 11 of the 42 NAE member denominations have been willing to sign on to endorse amnesty and Schumer's "comprehensive immigration reform" agenda.
It appears that the dwindling number of evangelical leaders who support amnesty resort to the same kind of dodgy defenses as pro-amnesty politicians in Washington when they come under fire from the voters back home. They set up straw men based on accusations that have NOT been made against them and then proceed to easily knock them down. This is undignified for congressmen, and far more so for otherwise distinguished religious leaders.
So, I confess I helped perhaps a couple of dozen illegal aliens yesterday at my neighborhood church. It is a United Methodist congregation. The bishops of my church nationally are actively lobbying to give permanent U.S. jobs to those illegal aliens. But I want those jobs to go to unemployed Americans. Why do my bishops think they are more ethical and humanitarian than me because they lobby against jobless Americans? And why did I help the illegal aliens?
We didn't get an actual bill today, but the pro-amnesty forces were pretty clear about what they want us American citizens to swallow in "comprehensive immigration reform." Rep. Luis Gutierrez has become the clear leader of the amnesty movement and outlined -- along with many of his allies -- what comprehensive amnesty legislation will look like.
Nearly all the Christian denominations now have national leadership calling for more foreign workers in the U.S. -- even though their members in the pews are suffering in a jobs depression. It is time for American Christians to call their leaders back to an intellectually honest and morally sound stance on immigration. In this blog, I will list the types of Americans who are suffering the most under the immigration advocacy of these denominational leaders.
Leaders of most of the nation's evangelical Christians made a shocking endorsement of illegal-alien amnesty today in Senate testimony. Their spokesman said high immigration is increasing membership in evangelical churches and is good for the economy. Polls have shown that evangelical Christians in the pews are the MOST likely to OPPOSE amnesty. If you are one of them, you may want to contact your church leaders immediately.
What a horrible image of anarchy we saw at the San Diego border crossing this week when three vans with an estimated 70 illegal aliens tried to crash their way through hundreds of innocent passengers in dozens of vehicles. Why did they do it? I'm willing to say that a bunch of bishops and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invited them.
The immigration debate often brings out the worst in people, but it still is disappointing to see the sad display by a number of bishops and other religious leaders yesterday outside the Capitol. They used their prayer vigil to spew hatred at their fellow Christians and other Americans working to reduce immigration in order to help the most vulnerable members of our society.
