Immigration Crackdown Creates Fault Lines Among Baptists
Source: New York Times
Dec. 21, 2025 Updated 4:20 p.m. ET
When federal agents descended on Louisiana this month to pursue their aggressive deportation campaign, a group of Roman Catholic priests privately brought the Eucharist to the homes of immigrants too worried to step outside. But Lewis Richerson, the pastor of Woodlawn Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, planned to take an opposite approach.
“I would not knowingly extend communion to an illegal immigrant who is visiting our church,” he said. “That person would be in sin by being in this country illegally, and Christians should obey the law of the land.” Instead, the main way he would minister to them would be “to help them submit themselves to the authorities,” he said. “They should absolutely deport themselves.”
Mr. Richerson’s church is part of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, with about 12.7 million members. For years, the denomination has supported immigration reforms, especially given its extensive missionary work and theological commitments to helping “the least of these,” as Jesus says in the gospel of Matthew.
But while Catholic bishops this year have repeatedly rebuked the Trump administration over its deportation actions, Southern Baptists are contending with an increasingly loud contingent in their ranks that, like Mr. Richerson, supports the immigration crackdown. Even as many rank-and-file churches continue to support immigrant ministries, signs of fracture are emerging.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/us/southern-baptists-immigration-trump.html
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Once upon a time I was in a Holiness church... Independent, no structure as such, except the pastor owned the church. Eucharist was celebrated rarely. Even allowed me, a lay "children's church teacher", to celebrate the Eucharist with saltine crackers and grape juice as part of "Children's Church"... That I got thrown into "leading". Poorly IMO. How a good ol' Church of England soul like me ended up there I don't know. I ended up with work that worked every Sunday, so no church activities possible. When the pastor took a political turn I drifted away. When she passed away and the successors seemed to turn hardline... I went low contact.
But to get back to the main topic ... It's through the grace of Jesus that we're even allowed to have Eucharist. Not even the preacher/priest/celebrant is free of sin enough in the eyes of God to be even worthy. And as part of the Communion service one confesses their sins and prays for forgiveness. So at least for that moment, the "illegal immigrant" who has broken the earthly law is supposed to have confessed to God their "sin" and thus should have received the okay to receive communion, unless the congregant feels God hasn't answered their prayer of forgiveness and doesn't go up. Anyway, this is my take on it.... I'm not clergy, I don't have a full certified religious education... Just my understanding of God and Jesus as I see them. And I may well be wrong.
