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Lordquinton

(7,886 posts)
Fri Jun 15, 2018, 02:18 AM Jun 2018

In defense of separating immigrant families Sessions cites same Bible passage used to defend slavery



“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 during a speech to law enforcement officers in Fort Wayne, Ind. “Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves. Consistent and fair application of the law is in itself a good and moral thing, and that protects the weak and protects the lawful.”

Sessions has said “we’ve got to get this message out” that asylum seekers or anyone else immigrating through unofficial means is not given immunity. He appealed to “church friends” later in Thursday’s speech in Fort Wayne, emphasizing that non-citizens who enter the United States illegally are breaking the law.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during a briefing Thursday that she hadn’t seen Sessions’s comments, but she backed his line of thinking. “I can say that it is very biblical to enforce the law. That is actually repeated a number of times throughout the Bible,” she said. “It’s a moral policy to follow and enforce the law.”

“There are two dominant places in American history when Romans 13 is invoked,” said John Fea, a professor of American history at Messiah College in Pennsylvania. “One is during the American Revolution [when] it was invoked by loyalists, those who opposed the American Revolution. The second spike you see is in the 1840s and 1850s, when Romans 13 is invoked by defenders of the South or defenders of slavery to ward off abolitionists who believed that slavery is wrong,” Fea said. “I mean, this is the same argument that Southern slaveholders and the advocates of a Southern way of life made.”


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/06/14/jeff-sessions-points-to-the-bible-in-defense-of-separating-immigrant-families/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.e1cdfaecb5e0
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In defense of separating immigrant families Sessions cites same Bible passage used to defend slavery (Original Post) Lordquinton Jun 2018 OP
Not just slavery... regnaD kciN Jun 2018 #1
It's a popular quote from people justifying bad things Lordquinton Jun 2018 #6
sessions spouts KKK boilerplate daily yet he is not called on it by msongs Jun 2018 #2
Yep Lordquinton Jun 2018 #7
You expect something different? The Genealogist Jun 2018 #3
Hang around here long enough Lordquinton Jun 2018 #8
Mark my word... Major Nikon Jun 2018 #4
Prophetic Lordquinton Jun 2018 #9
Quoth the raven... NeoGreen Jun 2018 #5
Very good quotes Lordquinton Jun 2018 #10

regnaD kciN

(26,035 posts)
1. Not just slavery...
Fri Jun 15, 2018, 02:38 AM
Jun 2018

The exact same passage was regularly used against Christian pacifists like myself to “prove” that it was our religious duty to go fight in Vietnam (or Cambodia, or Laos, or whichever domino ruled by a right-wing tyrant we needed to prop up next).

Lordquinton

(7,886 posts)
6. It's a popular quote from people justifying bad things
Fri Jun 15, 2018, 03:40 PM
Jun 2018

And why the whole book is problematic. Reading the story they try to explain that quote with context and all the same stuff that gets discarded here by some theists as "literalism"

The Genealogist

(4,723 posts)
3. You expect something different?
Fri Jun 15, 2018, 08:04 AM
Jun 2018

One can make the Bible confirm whatever nut, hateful, ignorant thing they wish. Conversely, if you find something in it that you don't like, that doesn't fit your narrative, you just explain it away as a metaphor or just ignore it. Easy peasy!

Lordquinton

(7,886 posts)
8. Hang around here long enough
Fri Jun 15, 2018, 03:43 PM
Jun 2018

And you'll learn that nothing in the Bible means what it says, try to discuss any passage and you get told to stop being a literalist. Can't even discuss characters in the Bible without getting mocked for thinking good actually exists (actually happened, told them to stay away from any discussion of Harry Potter)

Major Nikon

(36,814 posts)
4. Mark my word...
Fri Jun 15, 2018, 08:18 AM
Jun 2018

if and when these preachers get control of the party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.
-- Barry Goldwater

Lordquinton

(7,886 posts)
9. Prophetic
Fri Jun 15, 2018, 03:45 PM
Jun 2018

Sized control and pulled the conversation to the right. The story should be about a government official basing decisions on his religious beliefs instead of law, but instead we're arguing about what the passage means, and what Jesus would do.

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