Trump's Attack on Christian Liberty
This article was originally published on January 21, 2025. It was later updated and edited on 01/29/2024
CNN reported today the new Trump Administration will allow immigration authorities to arrest undocumented immigrants in so-called sensitive places like schools and churches. CNN quotes Acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamin Huffman as saying, “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement and instead trusts them to use common sense.” Side stepping the deep ethical problems with this policy in schools, this statement shows a basic misunderstanding of religious freedoms in the US considering the Christian Nationalist ideology that drove this policy change.
The people who crafted this change have not considered the attack on religious expression such raids would be seen as. It is also clear that Huffman has not read his Bible. A broad look at history will show that many Churches had a deep tradition of protecting immigrants and others at risk of being harmed by state power and violence. Support for that work comes from Christian scripture. The first and most obvious example comes from the Torah:
“When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the native-born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
— Leviticus 19:33-34, NRSVue
I highlight this because this change in policy is a direct attack on Christian religious liberty in the United States. -- With this policy change, we will now see the federal government use violence to tell churches who they can and cannot have in their houses of worship. It also stops them from following the rules and commandments of their religion. The separation of church and state is not only to protect people from religion. It also stands as a way to stop the government from imposing on the faithful.
The policy also assumes that anyone without documentation is a danger to society. Considering that most people without official documentation work jobs, pay taxes, and follow the law, it is clear that claim is wrong. Arresting someone in a church, simply means arresting a member of a faith community who is probably loved and cherished by their peers. The only reason to make an arrest in any public place like a church or school, would be to cause fear. Such arrests would take place in front of the person’s family, and among friends and spiritual leaders they respect and admire. A situation that would cause lasting harm.
How can the Trump government claim to be protecting churches while they are willing to turn them into places of violence and intimidation?