ICE came to Baton Rouge for Christmas, and at least one Southern Baptist pastor welcomed them.
Lewis Richerson, pastor of Woodlawn Baptist Church, told The New York Times, “I would not knowingly extend Communion to an illegal immigrant who is visiting our church,” he said. “That person would be in sin by being in this country illegally, and Christians should obey the law of the land.”
Lewis Richerson
In contrast, Roman Catholic priests in New Orleans, also an ICE-assigned city, saw an opportunity to privately bring Communion to the homes of immigrants too scared to leave. What a powerful Christian testimony.
As evangelicals charged with “saving the lost,” Southern Baptists never have been reticent about reaching out to people in “low places.” Sinners were welcome and exhorted to trust Jesus as Savior. The theology of evangelism dominated the heart of Southern Baptists.
The thought of excluding anyone never crossed my mind when my seminary education required me to give testimonies and preach sermons on Bourbon Street. “Whosoever will” may as well have been branded on my Baptist forehead.
Now, a shift has occurred indicating a more stringent political agenda and not so much an evangelical one.
Pastor Richerson comes down on the side of taking a hard line against all illegal immigrants. He is forthright. He boldly says he would “help them submit themselves to the authorities” and, “They should absolutely deport themselves.”
In addition, the pastor appealed to an economic argument: “When rent prices in communities skyrocket because illegal immigrants are being housed, that is inhumane to taxpayers and poor American citizens.”
Aside from the fact that rental prices in Woodlawn are not “skyrocketing” because illegal immigrants are being housed, he is ignoring the median price range for housing in his neighborhood. The median monthly apartment rental rate in South Baton Rouge is $1,586 a month. “Illegal aliens” can’t afford that price.
Richerson is replacing biblical theology with MAGA evangelical politics.
“The Baton Rouge pastor is not speaking from a pastoral heart about actual human beings.”
ICE has struck fear into the hearts of immigrants in the United States. When ICE came to Chicago, Matt DeMateo, chief executive of New Life Centers of Chicagoland, described the impact of Operation Midway Blitz on the immigrant community he serves succinctly: “I’ve been doing this work for 25 years, and I’ve never seen such fear.”
The Baton Rouge pastor is not speaking from a pastoral heart about actual human beings. By removing the incarnational aspect, as well as concrete examples of real flesh and blood people, Richerson pontificates about a principle rather than people. There’s no room for contingency; ambiguity; the ups and downs of life; the sweat, blood and tears; or the impossible odds facing many immigrants.
Does he not have to think about immigrant families coming to America to escape religious persecution? Or to find relief from grinding poverty? Would he refuse to give bread and food to these immigrants? The refusal to offer Communion has staggering negative implications. We are referencing the “body and blood of Jesus.” That’s what he’s denying.
While sending them away from the Lord’s Table, this pastor doesn’t think about what might happen to deported immigrants. He has disassociated his politics from any consequences.
Yet refusing Communion to any child of God has theological and moral consequences. Besides, how would the pastor know if a person attending Woodlawn Baptist Church is an illegal immigrant? Do deacons check green cards at the door?
I stand with the Catholic priests offering Communion and not with the Baptist pastor taking the side of the powers and the principalities.
Rodney W. Kennedy is a pastor and writer. He is the author of 11 books, including his latest, Dancing with Metaphors in the Pulpit.
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Immigration, deportation and faith-based protest | “Stuck in the Middle with You” podcast