A lot of folks obviously are irate about families being torn asunder in the name of enforcing immigration laws, and by Trump's implied threat that this country will keep on treating immigrants like animals until Democrats give him his Wall and every single other thing he wants in order to be a hero with his base. I don't have to tell you what I think about this.
What surprises me is the number of people who would describe themselves as evangelicals and are for this because, after all, Jeff Sessions says it's Biblical to do this. Then this afternoon, I read this posting by Alan Jacobs, an Anglican Christian who is said to be a respected author for the true evangelical audience. Here — I'll save you clicking over there and quote the part that interested me most…
The lesson to be drawn here is this: the great majority of Christians in America who call themselves evangelical are simply not formed by Christian teaching or the Christian scriptures. They are, rather, formed by the media they consume — or, more precisely, by the media that consume them. The Bible is just too difficult, and when it's not difficult it is terrifying. So many Christians simply act tribally, and when challenged to offer a Christian justification for their positions typically grope for a Bible verse or two, with no regard for its context or even its explicit meaning. Or summarize a Sunday-school story that they clearly don't understand, as when they compare Trump to King David because both sinned without even noticing that David's penitence was even more extravagant than his sins while Trump doesn't think he needs to repent of anything.
Many moons ago, I attended a political seminar where a gentleman spoke…and I'm sorry I don't have his name but he appeared to be a wizened scholar of The Bible and a man deeply critical of those who, in his view, misused that book for political purposes. He said — and this is an approximate quote — too many people know ten or twelve quotes from the Holy Book and whenever they want to try and pull rank on others over some matter, they trot out one of those quotes whether it fits or not, and throw it down as if to say 'God is on my side so it's settled.'"
He then went on to add, "If you are unable to recognize these corruptions of Scripture, it's probably because you are doing the same thing."