In early February, a few weeks before the beginning of Ramadan, Greece’s minister of migration and asylum, Thanos Plevris, announced a nationwide sweep to close down “illegal places of worship,” specifically mentioning more than 60 unregistered mosques that are operating…
I was a stranger … and you took away my food and put me in prison
In Matthew 25, Jesus teaches about the final judgment of nations with words that should pierce our hearts today: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a…
Donald Trump and the story of the magical phone app for immigrants
Donald Trump wants everyone to believe immigrants are bad. The formula is simplistic, misleading and false, but it is the sum total of his immigration policy. The simplicity, the impulsivity, and the emotionalism make Trump so tempting: Immigrants are bad….
Xenoamora over xenophobia
As the 2024 election season winds its painfully polarized way to another American election day, among the most volatile issues in the fractious orbit of political conversation are border security and immigration. As a public policy question, immigration is complex…
Look past fear and scarcity to embrace migrants, Carvalhaes urges
Bringing compassion and mercy to migrants means looking past the fear, resentment and scarcity mentality conservatives are bringing to the immigration debate, Cláudio Carvalhaes said during Fellowship Southwest’s Compassion and Justice Conference. “It means to continue to live with those…
Calling Donald Trump a ‘good businessman’ illustrates the problem of bowing down to ‘business’
Driving down the road last week, I (Mark) heard a radio journalist interview Hispanic immigrant voters (legal ones, for all you who worry about this) about how they’ll vote in this fall’s presidential election. One made the case that he…
Sister Norma sees God in the crying eyes of migrant children — and wants you to as well
Sister Norma Pimentel wants Americans to see children held in detention centers along the U.S.-Mexico border as human beings. Although she has been persecuted by other conservative Christians and even her fellow Catholics — like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott —…
Christians and Muslims overrepresented in world’s migrants
Christians make up close to half the world’s 280 million migrants, followed by significant numbers of Muslims, agnostics and atheists, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center. Released in August, “The Religious Composition of the World’s Migrants”…
America may not be as much ‘post-Christian’ as post-white Christian
Many American societies are beginning to be understood as “post-Christian.” Churches are hemorrhaging masses of disillusioned congregants as Christian cultural norms are losing their grip on public discourse. Even so, there has been a new Christian movement unsuspectingly burgeoning on…
SBC agency wants to make sure migrant children who are pregnant can’t get abortions
While most Americans are concerned with either helping or hindering unaccompanied minors from crossing the southern border into the United States, the Southern Baptist Convention has a different concern: Preventing pregnant migrant children from accessing health care and abortion services….
CBF gets $1.25 million grant to serve immigrant and refugee families
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship will receive $1.25 million from the Lilly Endowment to promote family-church partnerships that help immigrant and refugee parents nurture emotionally stable children. The grant comes through Lilly’s Christian Parenting and Caregiving Initiative, which seeks to help…
Virginia governor chided for saying immigrants bring drugs to his state
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s claim that deploying National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border helps protect the nation from criminals and illegal drugs is a ploy to villainize immigrants, rights advocates said during a recent livestreamed press conference. “It is…