Biblical verse Sessions used to justify ripping children from parents has history in slave-era South

[bigtree]

Jennifer Rubin @JRubinBlogger 37m37 minutes ago
We should point out that invoking this Biblical passage has a long and sordid history in Sessions’s native South. It was oft-quoted by slave-owners and later segregationists to insist on following existing law institutionalizing slavery

Attorney General Jeff Sessions displayed an appalling lack of appreciation for the religious establishment clause, not to mention simple human dignity. Speaking to a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and in the wake of the Church’s condemnation of the barbaric policy of separating children from their parents at the border, Sessions proclaimed: “Persons who violate the law of our nation are subject to prosecution. I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13 to obey the laws of the government, because God has ordained them for the purpose of order. Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves and protect the weak and lawful.” Later in the day, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders repeated his religious admonition to obey the law.

This is horrifically objectionable on multiple grounds. First, he is a public employee and must uphold the First Amendment’s establishment clause. If Sessions wants to justify a policy, he is obligated to give a secular policy justification. (Citing the Bible — inaptly — to Catholic bishops who exercise their religious conscience in speaking out against family separation may be the quintessential example of chutzpah.) Second, he is a policymaker, in a position to change a position that is inconsistent with our deepest values, traditions and respect for human rights. Third, the bishops were not advocating civil disobedience; they were objecting to an unjust law. Sessions is trying to use the Bible to squelch dissent.

We should point out that invoking this Biblical passage has a long and sordid history in Sessions’s native South. It was oft-quoted by slave-owners and later segregationists to insist on following existing law institutionalizing slavery (“read as an unequivocal order for Christians to obey state authority, a reading that not only justified southern slavery but authoritarian rule in Nazi Germany and South African apartheid”).

read: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2018/06/15/leave-the-bible-out-of-it-child-separation-is-not-christian/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.50dc5954389e

Think Progress:

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions cited the Bible in defense of the Department of Justice’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy that has resulted in the separation of thousands of families along the southern border.

“I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13 to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for his purposes,” Sessions said in a speech Thursday. “Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves. Consistent, fair application of law is in itself a good and moral thing and that protects the weak, it protects the lawful. Our policies that can result in short-term separation of families are not unusual or unjustified.”
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The verse –“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” — is infamous for its origins as a popular defense of slavery, authoritarian rule in Nazi Germany, and South African apartheid.

read: https://thinkprogress.org/sessions-defends-family-separation-with-a-bible-verse-used-to-defend-slavery-nazis-and-apartheid-6402c2b74f9d/

WaPo:

Whether he realized it or not, Sessions restarted a theological debate that stretches far beyond American politics and passes through some of the darkest swamps of recent history.

The passage — “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God” — has been read as an unequivocal order for Christians to obey state authority, a reading that not only justified Southern slavery but authoritarian rule in Nazi Germany and South African apartheid.

But because the interpretation runs counter to so much of the Christian message, and drills right into the borderlands between church and state, the passage has also been incredibly controversial. In 1744, clergyman Elisha Williams remarked that the text was “often wrecked and tortured by such wits as were disposed to serve the designs of arbitrary power.”

read: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/06/15/sessions-says-the-bible-justifies-separating-immigrant-families-the-verses-he-cited-are-infamous/?utm_term=.c23a39b217a6

[shanny]

1. That is why Sessions is familiar with it.

I doubt if he has ever studied anything that doesn't bolster his white supremacist views (clearly not the law).

[bigtree]

2. no doubt

...he's drenched in that aberrant culture, not exclusive at all to the South, of course.

[bigtree]

3. »

[Solly Mack]

4. The bible is nothing if not accommodating. People can use it to justify anything.

And if people want to use a religious text to check their own behavior, that's one thing.

To use it to justify the law or government policy?

That's theocracy.

Even a little religion is too much in government.

People might want to pretend that used wisely it only promotes shared values - but that's the rub ain't it?

We so obviously don't share the same values do we?

Even the religious can't agree on what their own shared (religious) values should be.

We have the Constitution to help govern us as a nation. We don't need a religious text to do so.


And, yes, definitely. One of the first things I could see in my head whenever anyone said "Is this what we've become?" re: separating children from parents - was the image of the slave block and children being ripped from their mother's arms.

I also saw the images of Abu Ghraib - which was but one example of the war crimes committed by the US government.

For me the question isn't "Is this what we've become?" but rather - When the fuck will we stop?