President Trump owes his presidency largely to evangelical Christians. With four out of five white evangelical voters supporting President Trump in 2016, they made up the core of his voting base. But unless he takes a more compassionate approach to immigration reform, he may not be able to count on the same support in 2020.
In recent years, evangelical Christians have been seen as staunchly unsympathetic to immigrants. This view is somewhat merited: A 2017 poll found that three-quarters of white evangelicals supported the “travel ban” preventing refugees and others from Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.
But evangelical views on immigration are far more nuanced than most people realize -- and polling results on policy do not tell the whole story.
In my leadership of World Relief -- the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals -- I have witnessed firsthand how evangelical Christians across the U.S. serve the vulnerable foreign-born in their communities in remarkable ways.
Church groups welcome refugees at the airport. Church-based volunteers minister to asylum seekers trapped for months in detention centers. ESL teachers spend their evenings in church basements with immigrants eager to learn English. And individuals and families within churches offer support to refugees over the long process of integrating into a new culture to become independent and flourishing members of their communities.
In recent years, evangelical Christians have been seen as staunchly unsympathetic to immigrants. This view is somewhat merited: A 2017 poll found that three-quarters of white evangelicals supported the “travel ban” preventing refugees and others from Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.
But evangelical views on immigration are far more nuanced than most people realize -- and polling results on policy do not tell the whole story.
In my leadership of World Relief -- the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals -- I have witnessed firsthand how evangelical Christians across the U.S. serve the vulnerable foreign-born in their communities in remarkable ways.
Church groups welcome refugees at the airport. Church-based volunteers minister to asylum seekers trapped for months in detention centers. ESL teachers spend their evenings in church basements with immigrants eager to learn English. And individuals and families within churches offer support to refugees over the long process of integrating into a new culture to become independent and flourishing members of their communities.
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