Evangelical leaders support a path to citizenship
Evangelical leaders said Monday they will support a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants as part of immigration legislation, the first time they’ve taken an affirmative stance on the contentious issue.
Jim Wallis, head of the Christian social justice group Sojourners, said it’s part of a “sea change” in the evangelical community, driven in part by the increasing numbers of immigrants in congregations. He said evangelical leaders have concluded that “we don’t believe there are second-class images of God, and therefore we don’t believe in a second-class status for people who are willing to follow an earned path to citizenship.”
Sojourners is part of a coalition of evangelical groups called the Evangelical Immigration Table that has been lobbying for an immigration overhaul to bring the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants into legal status. Before Monday the groups had stopped short of advocating for citizenship, but they told reporters on a conference call that they’ve now concluded it’s appropriate as religious leaders to support citizenship as well.
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As an Evangelical, I’ve never heard of these so-called “leaders.” There is only one “leader”: God.
tyketto on March 19, 2013 at 10:58 AM
What a joke.
Jim Wallis is a committed socialist.
darwin on March 19, 2013 at 11:00 AM
Here is who Jim Wallis is:
ChunkyLover on March 19, 2013 at 11:02 AM
If Jim Wallis is considered a church leader then I’m a damned Ayatollah.
Wallis is a fraud and a socialist at best.
John_Locke on March 19, 2013 at 11:02 AM
Jim Wallis
ChunkyLover on March 19, 2013 at 11:02 AM
Uh, Mr. Wallis, have you bothered to ask those immigrants that came here the legal way how they feel about this?
Bitter Clinger on March 19, 2013 at 11:05 AM
Jim Wallis? isn’t that the left wing religious leader that had some war bit Glenn Beck a few years back?
bannor on March 19, 2013 at 11:06 AM
Jim Wallis? C’mon AP.
Big Orange on March 19, 2013 at 11:09 AM
So Jim Wallis is not an evangelical. And God is a God of justice and love which leads to mercy, but He is not an anarchist which the illegal immigration crowd apparently is.
IdrilofGondolin on March 19, 2013 at 11:10 AM
LOL. So a Marxist shill who worships at the alter of King Barry is for creating a bunch of new Democrats? Shocker.
Kataklysmic on March 19, 2013 at 11:10 AM
Following an earned path to citizenship is following the law of the country from which you seek citizenship. None of the current illegal aliens did this. Therefore, they haven’t earned anything.
Monkeytoe on March 19, 2013 at 11:10 AM
Compassionate
ConservatismSuicide.portlandon on March 19, 2013 at 11:11 AM
Never heard of him.
CurtZHP on March 19, 2013 at 11:13 AM
Just In:
Dan Savage supports ghey mirage.
budfox on March 19, 2013 at 11:15 AM
And the reason I stopped donating to Focus on the Family. They support this, too.
Victor Davis Hanson has a great article about why such policies are actually immoral and therefore go against Biblical principles.
Hat Trick on March 19, 2013 at 11:19 AM
Nice. Just in: Sarah Brady supports gun control.
Kataklysmic on March 19, 2013 at 11:26 AM
Just in: Ru Paul supports unisex bathrooms.
Kataklysmic on March 19, 2013 at 11:28 AM
stupid wedge article for the doofus confirmation bias folk.
tom daschle concerned on March 19, 2013 at 11:37 AM
Why do we have to have a path to citizenship? How about a path to legal resident status? And how about that path requires that they go back home for ten years and then they can come back as legal residents? But no path to citizenship if they came here illegally to begin with….
dczombie on March 19, 2013 at 11:44 AM
Not a very good leader since his church is splintered into thousands of contradicting sects.
Pablo Honey on March 19, 2013 at 11:52 AM
like I said.
tom daschle concerned on March 19, 2013 at 11:55 AM
No, the illegal immigration crowd are not anarchists, they are Marxists practicing the Marxists political religious ideology of Liberation Theology.
SWalker on March 19, 2013 at 12:01 PM
Jim Wallis is a social-justice douchebag.
BuckeyeSam on March 19, 2013 at 12:15 PM
There is already a “path to citizenship”. They chose to not follow it. What makes you think they will follow any new (pay back taxes/fines/get in line) path to citizenship.
Corsair on March 19, 2013 at 12:32 PM
Marxists all over, including the new Labor secretary for Obama…
Schadenfreude on March 19, 2013 at 1:33 PM