This story over at Huffpo seems to me to be the perfect compliment to the heroic efforts of LEADER Pelosi (D-CA-12) today, especially since Rep. Pelosi is also a person of faith and drew upon her deep social justice Catholicism today, even reading from the Gospel of Matthew in her defense of Dreamers.
The right wing politicized fundamentalist who usually hog the label “evangelical” and who support everything vile Drumpf wants, are not representative. Today, 100 evangelical leaders from numerous diverse parts of that community signed a letter urging POTUS to protect the Dreamers (without racist immigration policies as a price), immigrants, and refugees. The online version of the letter now has over 1,400 signatures. Among the original signers is Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Caucus; Dr. Russell Moore, President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention; and progressive Christian author Jen Hatmaker.
Is a letter enough? Probably not. More needs to be done, but faith groups have a unique amount of leverage. Drumpf is arguably the least religious POTUS in 100 years. But he knows that his base is religious. Yes, this is the most secular generation in U.S. history with the “nones,” people who classify themselves as atheist, agnostic, secular, or simply “none of the above,” now amounting to 1 out of every 5 Americans. (And, yes, that makes them the most under-represented minority in Congress.) But, compared to Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, and other advanced democracies, the USA is still one of the most religious countries. And the majority of this country is some form of Christian. Evangelicals, broadly defined, represent about 33-35% of the country—and a huge portion of Republicans and Independents who usually vote Republican.
So, a strong defense of Dreamers, immigrants, and refugees by Evangelicals and other faith groups could bring real pressure on Drumpf to sign a moderate Dream Act. I think these 100 leaders and others should go to Pence (who is far more religious than Drumpf) and then to the Orange Cheeto himself. They should threaten to do a sit-in in the lobby of the White House.
But this is a beginning. Hopefully, this starts a groundswell before time runs out.
