BY WILLIAM DOUGLAS
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS Via Miami Herald: Politics AP
WASHINGTON — Religious leaders and lawmakers traded Scripture passages Wednesday at a congressional hearing on whether there's an ethical imperative to overhaul the nation's immigration laws.
Arguing for a comprehensive immigration package with a guest-worker program, Richard Land, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, quoted from Matthew, Leviticus and Micah in pressing for action on the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants currently living in the U.S.
Southern Baptists respect and strongly support upholding America's laws, he said, but they "also recognize a biblical mandate to care for 'the least of these among us' (Matthew 25:34-40), to care for the 'strangers' who reside in our land (Leviticus 19:34; Hebrews 13:2) and to act justly and mercifully (Micah 6:8)," Land told the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law.
Opponents of a comprehensive immigration overhaul came to the hearing with biblical passages of their own.
Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, read a quote from Romans 13:1-7 that crystallized the argument for enhanced border security and strict enforcement of existing federal immigration laws: "Let every person be subject to governing authorities."
Read more: [Illegal Immigration]
Posted By; Carlos T. Alfaro
Summer 2010
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