Does Immigration Hurt The Church?

People like to question how one can claim to be a Christian, yet want to keep refugees out of their country and build walls along their borders. They feel as if the attitude towards immigrants doesn’t reflect the way a Christian should feel, or that the positions don’t follow what the Bible tells us we should be doing. They bring up how the Bible tells us we’re supposed to welcome foreigners and take care of them. We’re to clothe them, feed them, and much more. And they have a valid point. We are told several times in the Bible to remember when the Jews were foreigners in Egypt, and you could definitely find a lot of scripture to use in an argument in favor of immigration. But a lot of what the Bible tells us regarding the things we should be doing for people are meant to be moral obligations, not legal ones. There’s a lot of things that as Christians we should be doing, but that shouldn’t necessarily be required by law.

If bringing these people in is going to directly harm the church, maybe a nation who’s Christian population is shrinking, yet still has a significant Christian majority and the ability to do something about it, should rethink. And yes, immigration has a direct and negative impact on religious liberty. Maybe if we want to help, we would be better off sending resources to these other countries, or going over there to help with whatever it is, rather than bringing them here. This way we can help without hurting ourselves. And this doesn’t mean the government should be sending these resources. People who want to help should do it on their own.

The reason immigration is bad for the Church usually has nothing to do with the immigrants themselves. Muslims being the exception. Most immigrants aren’t horrible people, and it’s easy to sympathize with someone who’s life is so hard that they have to risk their safety and freedom trying to sneak into another country, or spend years trying to get in the right way. But we can’t legislate based on feelings. And the facts are begging us to close our borders.

This is why. The political left is the enemy of Christianity in America. It’s the left pushing all the same sex marriage, transgender bathrooms, murder babies, ban prayer, and corrupt the youth garbage that we hear about. It’s all coming from the left. So when it comes to actual legislation that might force a Christian to violate their faith, or that one would oppose, that would be coming from the Democrats. The reason immigration is bad for the Church is not because the people who’re coming here aren’t Christians, or don’t share our values. That’s not it at all. Most would be an exaggeration, but a lot of them are, and do. And that’s why they want to come here. Obviously this depends on the situation because as an example, when you’re talking about Muslim immigration from the Middle East, these people are coming from a totally different culture, and it’s not easy to find examples of Muslims moving to, and assimilating in, western nations. But it’s not that. It’s not crime. It’s not drugs. It’s not any of the other reasons that people might have for being opposed to immigration, or at least to the amount that we’ve been seeing. Just look at Mexico. Over 80% of their population is Catholic. So putting aside all of the other ways immigration hurts us, when it comes to how it hurts the church, it’s not their presence itself that threatens us.

It’s more about who’s going to pander to them when they get here. Democrats are the ones offering open borders, citizenship to anyone who wants it, free food, free housing, free healthcare, free education, you name it. Anything you want and all before you even become a citizen. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that most voters with an immigration background or who have family or friends who are still stuck in another country trying to get over here, they tend to vote in favor of all these policies. They vote for candidates they might not agree with on anything. They could be pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, want a smaller government and less taxes, but they vote for a Democrat because that’s who’s offering their family the easiest path to citizenship. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It makes sense. It’s still better than where they’re coming from. And you are supposed to want what’s best for yourself and for your family. You can’t hate them for that. But when we have as many people as we do coming here, and as quick as they are, that creates a real problem for people of faith, specifically Christians.

What it comes down to is this. The more immigrants that come into this country, the more Democrats will be put into office, and the more Democrats we put into office, the less God the government will allow in our lives. Whether it’s how you’re forced to run your business, where you’re allowed to talk about God, where you’re allowed to pray, what books your kid can and can’t read in school anymore, what common and long held beliefs are all of a sudden hate speech, or even what history is erased from the textbooks, the result of mass immigration will be felt by the church. And it’s not the only, or biggest threat we face, but it is significant. And it is worth talking about. This doesn’t only affect Christians. It’s a First Amendment issue and all Americans should be concerned.