Evangelicals coming around on immigration

As Julia Preston reported in yesterday's New York Times, white evangelical Christians are coming to embrace the immigrants among us:

First Baptist's pastor with church members

ORLANDO, Fla. — In the pews of the First Baptist Church of Orlando, where thousands of evangelical Christians gather on Sundays to worship and sing, a change of heart is happening on the once toxic issue of immigration.

Two years ago, national evangelical leaders began to speak out in favor of legislation to give legal status to immigrants in the United States illegally. Now, as Congress is about to start a debate on overhauling the immigration system, conservative Christians, once inclined to take a hard line on immigrants they viewed as lawbreakers, are consulting their Bibles and coming around to the pastors’ view. ...

Evangelical leaders, seeing the opportunity to expand their influence on a social issue beyond abortion and same-sex marriage, have broadly united this year behind a path to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally. They are conducting an ambitious push to sway Congress, including ad campaigns on Christian radio stations in five states, meetings with lawmakers and a challenge to churchgoers to pray every day for 40 days using Bible passages that speak of welcoming the stranger. ...

“Once you’ve walked with someone and put a face and family behind the immigration issue, it very much personalizes it,” [First Baptist member Jay Crenshaw] said. “You do find yourself with a lot of compassion.” 

Stewart Hall, 70, a member of First Baptist Orlando for more than three decades, said his views changed gradually, as he moved to sit in pews near the rear of the church where immigrants new to the congregation chose to pray.  [contact hypothesis!!!]  “It occurs to me that if Jesus was sitting next to me, he would not care whether they were illegal or legal,” he said. 

“Take me back 10 years ago, and I had this really hard outer shell about it,” Mr. Hall said. “Line ’em up and shoot ’em, and by that I really meant pack them up and get them out of here.” 

But, he said, “my walk with Christ has softened my view.”