The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a statement Jan. 21 that attempts to build the framework for federal immigration enforcement agencies to have the right to enter schools and churches to make arrests. This statement overturns previous ICE precedent that dates back to at least 2011.
The statement invokes frightening crimes like murder and rape as reason for the change, but other actions by the Trump administration allows ICE to pursue, arrest and deport anyone they suspect is in the country illegally regardless of criminal record.
Rory Naeve
As the pastor of a local church, the scope of these edicts disturbs me. For my whole life, I have heard clergy offer thanks to God for the freedoms we enjoy in this country, especially the freedom to assemble and worship without interference from the state. I value that freedom as a natural-born citizen of the United States, but even more so as an adopted Baptist minister.
I came to the Baptist way relatively late in my Christian journey, but I chose this way because of freedom. I treasure the freedom to read the Bible for myself and allow its ancient words to inform my mind and reform my heart. I am grateful for the freedom of the local church not to bend to the whim of an outside ecclesial authority who doesn’t even know what our sanctuary looks like.
“Real faith must be free faith.”
I have revered the work of those earliest Baptists who bent the ears of the founders to include religious freedom as a cornerstone of our democracy, because they knew in order for faith to be genuine, faith must be freely chosen. As the Apostle Paul reminds us, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” Real faith must be free faith.
Those freedoms have been thrust into the fire, and their mettle is being tested.
These edicts attempt to break the freedom to assemble and the freedom of religion in places dedicated to the worship of God and the growth of the human spirit. If a house of worship can be raided because of the mere suspicion of someone being in the country illegally, then who is truly free to worship? If a church cannot provide a place of safety and peace so that God-given souls may reach for their Creator, then can we truly call them sanctuaries?
My church may not be entered by federal agents, but it is not only my church that concerns me. As a Christian, I take the words of the New Testament seriously when it declares, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” and “You are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of it.” If our government raids a Catholic church in New York, a Pentecostal church in Texas or a Methodist church in Kansas, it will be an affront to this Baptist church in Tennessee, because we are one body in Jesus Christ.
It is that sense of unity, of what another Baptist pastor called the “inescapable network of mutuality,” that must call us all to stand against this attack on freedom. While I am deeply concerned about what this might mean for people of faith and houses of worship, I am no less concerned about students in our schools wasting an opportunity for education because they are justifiably terrified about the government coming for their families if they fill out any paperwork. I am concerned about people suffering and even dying of illnesses because they can’t seek medical treatment without risking arrest. These edicts are not just an overreach on the grounds of religious freedom; they are an affront to moral character.
“These edicts are not just an overreach on the grounds of religious freedom; they are an affront to moral character.”
I believe now is a time for reaching out to one another in common cause of defending our shared humanity and protecting our God-given freedoms. I believe we have the moral obligation to insist upon decency and sanctity for all people regardless of their nation of origin. I believe people of all faiths, and no faith, should be united in opposition to policy that is wrong and unjust. But I appeal especially to those who share my beliefs so closely that they recognize the lyrics out of the songbook I sing out of on Sunday mornings:
Join hands, then, children of the faith,
Whate’er your race may be!
Who serves my Father as a child
Is surely kin to me.
In Christ now meet both east and west,|
In him meet south and north;
All Christly souls are one in him,
Thru’out the whole wide earth.
In the days to come, I pray communities of faith will continue to uphold a faith that is free, spaces that are sacred and the dignity of common humanity.
Rory Naeve serves as senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Related articles:
America needs a new sanctuary movement today | Opinion by Alexandria Villarreal
Catholic leaders and JD Vance spar over immigration doctrine
‘Laken Riley Act’ sets the stage for Trump campaign against immigrants
Here’s a rundown of Trump’s ‘day one’ immigration actions
Advocates reeling as Trump shuts down legal refugee entry