WASHINGTON, D.C, Oct. 5, 2017—Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, assembled a broad coalition of evangelical leaders who joined together in a statement calling on Congress to provide a solution for Dreamers, the small subset of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children by their parents.
In the statement, Moore and others encouraged Congress to come up with a solution in a timely manner which would protect these young immigrants. The statement does not endorse any particular piece of legislation but rather asks Congress to take action and act justly.
“It is long past time for Congress to work together to find a workable solution for our broken immigration system—especially for the hundreds of thousands of young, undocumented immigrants who were brought to our country by their parents,” Moore said. “Many of these Dreamers have stepped forward in good faith, and our government has a moral obligation to deliver on the promises made to these men and women and protect them from perpetual uncertainty.
“I’m honored to be joined on this statement by convictional leaders from across the evangelical spectrum. We stand together united by many things, in this case the conviction Congress should provide a fair, compassionate and speedy solution.”
A number of the evangelical leaders who signed the statement include:
Russell Moore, President, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
Matt Chandler, Lead Teaching Pastor, The Village Church
Jack Graham, Senior Pastor, Prestonwood Baptist Church
Erick Erickson, Editor, The Resurgent
J. D. Greear, Pastor, Summit Church
Rich Stearns, President, World Vision U.S.
Richard Land, President, Southern Evangelical Seminary
Randy Alcorn, Author, Founder and Director, Eternal Perspective Ministries
Ronnie Floyd, Senior Pastor, Cross Church
Danny Akin, President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
George Wood, General Superintendent, Assemblies of God
Greg Laurie, Senior Pastor, Harvest Christian Fellowship
Mark DeMoss, President, The DeMoss Group
Samuel Rodriguez, President, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference
The statement charges: “It is now incumbent on members of both parties to set politics aside for the sake of our nation, its families and its communities and pass a legislative solution for Dreamers” and offers six overarching principles which signatories believe should characterize any legislative solution Congress proposes:
- We believe it is unjust to punish children for offenses they did not commit.
- We believe America’s borders must be secure.
- We believe we should welcome Dreamers of good moral character and who are working hard to contribute to our country.
- We believe Dreamers deserve to be recognized as our fellow Americans.
- We believe our government should provide a pathway to permanent legal status and/or citizenship for eligible Dreamers.
- We believe a just government works to maintain the integrity of families.
The full statement and list of signatories can be found here.
The Southern Baptist Convention is America’s largest Protestant denomination with more than 15.2 million members in over 46,000 churches nationwide. The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission is the SBC’s ethics, religious liberty and public policy agency with offices in Nashville, Tenn., and Washington, D.C.
