Donald Trump reportedly wants Muslims to have to register in the United States, but that’s a major warning sign for Southern Baptist President Russell Moore.
“Donald Trump is saber-rattling about shutting down mosques in this country, which, as somebody who works every day on religious liberty, I’m astounded that we could have a presidential candidate of either party speaking in such a way,” Moore told Buzzfeed. “Evangelicals should recognize that any president who would call for shutting down houses of worship … is the sort of political power that can ultimately shut down evangelical churches.”
With refugees showing up on American soil, Moore’s heart breaks for the outreach the church is ignoring.
“Our Muslim neighbors are not people we want to scream and rail at—we don’t want to demonize our mission field,” Moore told Buzzfeed. “I think that the evangelistic missionary impulse of Christianity that sometimes seculars present as nefarious actually is what grounds evangelicals to see individuals not as issues but as persons.”
He isn’t the only popular evangelical sounding off on the events shaping the political and cultural landscape of the church.
Some, like Southern Evangelical Seminary President Richard Land, demand the United States focus internally.
“Just so, as Christians, we need to have compassion for Syrian refugees who are fleeing the horrible violence of their civil war,” Land writes. “Does that compassion compel us to grant them access to our country as refugees? I think not. Especially when ISIS has declared they are going to use the refugee flood as a Trojan horse to infiltrate terrorists into the U.S., duplicating the dastardly deeds they perpetrated in Paris. Being passionate does not compel us to expose our jugular veins to our enemies.
Meanwhile, leaders like John Piper see the refugee influx as an enormous possibility to spread the gospel.
In a blog post titled “Building His Church in a Refugee Crisis,” Piper delves into the complexities facing society.
“So, as Christians, we may disagree about what’s best for America to do in this situation. But as Christians, we also recognize that this is not ultimately as important as the gospel opportunity represented in the refugee crisis,” Piper writes.
But after the Paris attacks, politicians and state leaders are not so sure acceptance is the best answer. According to CNN, more than half the nation’s governors say Syrian Refugees are not welcome in their states.
This position stirs the pot of controversy as many jump to defend or disparage leaders’ decisions on social media.
But for SBC’s Moore, it boils down Christlike compassion, despite a refugee’s chosen religion.
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