Charlotte faith leaders view Trump’s immigration agenda as ‘antithetical to the Bible’
When asked about President Donald Trump’s domestic policies, Charlotte-area pastors often cite Matthew 25:35-40, a Biblical parable that calls for Christians to care for the less fortunate.
Why it matters: Christians, particularly conservative evangelicals, have supported Trump in the past. Now, many moderate and progressive Christians across the U.S., including in Charlotte, are challenging the president’s administration around immigration, civil rights and poverty.
What they’re saying: The Trump administration’s policies are “antithetical to the Bible,” which calls for people to treat immigrants as neighbors and to make sure you’re not harming them, Collective Liberation Church lead pastor Rev. Benjamin Boswell tells Axios.
Driving the news: News of U.S. Border Patrol agents coming to Charlotte has sent fear throughout Charlotte’s large immigrant community.
- Collective Liberation Church has been partnering with the Carolina Migrant Network, which provides free legal representation to individuals detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Boswell says.
- Bishop Michael Martin of the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte, which covers 46 counties in the western half of North Carolina, says the Catholic Church stands with immigrants regardless of their status, per a statement provided to Axios from the Diocese.
- “These are moral issues, and to not deal with them is sinful, according to biblical and faith traditions,” Rev. William Barber of the Goldsboro-based Repairers of the Breach told Axios recently.