Just as the war on immigration is heating up in the west comes word of a new coalition that promises support for our beleaguered president. A group of market-savvy Christian evangelicals is coming out in support of 
immigration reform, with an emphasis on smoothing the path to legal status for the more than 12 million illegals currently residing in the United States.
This is no last-minute conversion, although it represents an epiphany of sorts: Census figures show that 90 percent of illegal immigration comes from Latin America, with 70 percent of the total from Mexico. They appear to be intensely devout and culturally conservative, which means anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage. At a time when the Tea party is putting the values agenda on the back burner,at least publicly, Christian evangelicals seeking to refresh the ranks and heat up the cultural wars could do worse than to court Hispanics.
Rev. Richard D. Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention , noted that “Hispanics are religious, family-oriented, pro-life, entrepreneurial” and "hard-wired social conservatives, unless they’re driven away."
Bless America, land of the free and home of the expedient. Politics do indeed make strange bedfellow. We urgently need reform, particularly to address the fact of those millions of people in the United States illegally. So sure, if Christian leaders want to get behind immigration reform, I say, hop on board! Just remember to include the non-church-going 
immigrants from Nigeria or Palestine or Thailand or Ireland. Some of them may be gay and some of them may be registered Democrats for all we know--as long as we're not holding reform hostage to the quota fulfillment needs of America's conservative churches. Other than that, I advise the President to take the help if he can get it. Vaya con Dios.
image: webpages.scu.edu/ftp/ddamrow/what%20does.htm
image: www.richardlandlive.com/bio/
image: www.life.com/image/670361
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
500words
Chauncey DeVega
littlewillie
Molly Tennyson
Karen Riley
RomanticPoetess
Salon.com
Comments
Stalemates serve no one except white supremacists, who make hay of the videos of Latinos who stop waiting up to 18 years for green cards and just sneak over.
Like the white supremist guy who is ransacking the border arresting people.
This is all so well done.
Not :(
Rated with hugs
R
Nikki, in what alternate universe can we assure this particular caveat? That is exactly what will happen or something very much like it.
Lezlie
It will reshape a lot of the dialog around so called minority issues. Hispanics are more inclined to have strong male presences within the family structure, for example. More discussion around what to do to prop up the disintegrating notion of the nuclear family should be come easier, for example.
I like this. I like the fact the right is figuring out that folks with a strong work ethic who seek to come here to make a better way for themselves heppen to be people we want to see assimilate into our country. We want their work ethic, frankly.
I recently posted on OS about a community here in central Washington where less than 50 people out of a community of over 3,000 voted in the last general election (the majority of residents can't register to vote). The stuff that has happened to this little town as a direct result of the lack of a representative government is shocking.
Another interesting thing of note is that evangelical churches are seeing a strong increase in Latino membership both here in and south of the border. Our small towns have seen several new churches formed in the past ten years. The Catholic church has long been a financial player in immigration in our area, responsible for everything from building low-income housing in small towns to overseeing home daycare operations. I have a problem with that even though I know those services are needed.
But I'm afraid I'm becoming a bit of a zealot about getting people here naturalized and registered to vote--I don't really care how it happens or which political party is "for" it, or why they're for it. It just needs to happen. I certainly don't want to live in a country where the religious right tells me how to live my life, but I want to live in a country where people living here have the vote.
I had to read this several times because my brain has a very hard time absorbing this new stance.
Hope it's sincere.
Keywords: market-savvy.....evangelicals....
Cultural conservatism (and its White Protestant Superemist subtext) has maybe 20 years to live. However, they have the power of the referendum. Hispanics and Blacks in California may have voted for Obama, but they voted against gay marriage. This also firewalls liberal candidates from the issue, since it was the 'people' made the decision, not them.
I doubt the Southern Baptist Convention can gulp down its 'hardwired' racism long enough to reach out to Hispanics.