Southern Baptist leaders have joined in the strongest effort to date by evangelical Christians to bring about comprehensive immigration reform.
Bryant Wright, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Richard Land, president of the SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, were among more than 20 Southern Baptist denominational leaders, academics and pastors who endorsed an “Evangelical Statement of Principles for Immigration Reform.” The Evangelical Immigration Table (EIT), a new coalition, released the statement signed by 150 evangelicals at a Capitol Hill news conference June 12.
In the statement, the signers call for government leaders to work with the American people for a “bipartisan solution” on the controversial issue that:
– “Respects the God-given dignity of every person;
– “Protects the unity of the immediate family;
– “Respects the rule of law;
– “Guarantees secure national borders;
– “Ensures fairness to taxpayers;
– “Establishes a path toward legal status and/or citizenship for those who qualify and who wish to become permanent residents.”
The signers acknowledge efforts to repair what many of them describe as a broken system that has resulted in polarization and a misrepresentation of “each other’s positions as open borders and amnesty versus deportations of millions.”
While Land and other leaders of the Evangelical Immigration Table have been promoting comprehensive reform for several years, the statement marks a significant expansion of evangelical endorsers in a cooperative effort. Notably, Focus on the Family took a stance on the issue for the first time when its president, Jim Daly, signed the statement. The coalition includes evangelicals from both the left and right.
The EIT “is diverse in its formation, but it is unified in its biblically mandated vision to help create a better life for immigrants” based on its stated principles, Land said.
Sojourners president Jim Wallis, known for his left-leaning politics, pointed to the agreement between his organization and more conservative groups such as the SBC, Focus on the Family and the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE).
“That doesn’t happen very often,” Wallis said. “An effort for immigration reform of this size and this diverse has never been attempted in the evangelical community.”
Other Southern Baptists signing the EIT statement included Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; former SBC president James Merritt; Durham, N.C. pastor J.D. Greear; Robin Hadaway, interim president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; Russell Moore, dean of the school of theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Steve Lemke, provost of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and Daniel Sanchez, missions professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. – BP