Indeed, an immigrant is at the heart (the cornerstone) of the Christian faith. “The Christian faith follows a Savior that was an immigrant,” Rogers explains. Even before God dwelt among us, the Scripture tells us how to treat the immigrant. Rogers points to Leviticus 19:33-34:
“‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’”
How this Scripture should be followed in our modern-day nations may be open to interpretation, but no matter our political affiliation we can all agree that the Scripture is clear we are to love the immigrant as ourselves and take pains not to mistreat them. Rogers says he has friends on both sides of the immigration debate, but he feels most Christians unite around this instruction found in Scripture.
When asked about the argument some Christians give about following the law of the land (and thus denying entry to the migrants), Rogers says we all “pick and choose” which laws of the land to support. He gives the example of abortion. Legalized abortion is the law of the land, but he has many pro-life friends who don’t think that’s a good law to support or uphold and they take opportunities to fight against it. In the same way, some Christians feel the laws concerning immigrants and those seeking asylum should be challenged and changed.
This is where the church comes in, Rogers feels. “If the conservative voice and the liberal voice came together for just a few issues, think how powerful those issues could be. I mean we saw it with the separation of families [at the border].” Rogers explains that progressive Christians and Southern Baptists came together to push against the separations and their collective voices were heard and eventually heeded.
In the same way, he is hoping conservative, moderate and progressive Christians can unite around the cause of the immigrant to come up with a solution in the U.S.
