Pastor Doug Pagitt and congregation.
I HEAR IT ALL THE TIME: What Donald Trump is doing goes against Christian teachings, the Bible, what people of faith are taught, and yet they still back him. But The Bulwark has learned exclusively that a network of five thousand faith communities is now disseminating a blueprint for clergy and lay leaders who want to push back against what Trump and the agents of his newly emboldened ICE are doing to immigrants across the country.
This rapid-response action plan for churches and faith communities to protect people during ICE raids is the brainchild of evangelical pastor Doug Pagitt and his group Vote Common Good, which is not only providing these resources to the faith communities in his network, but also sending an open letter to the White House Faith Office calling for justice and compassion for immigrants, and slamming plans to open more detention centers like Florida’s Everglades detention facility. Thousands of faith leaders and congregations cosigned the letter.
“Faith traditions call us to welcome the stranger, protect the vulnerable, and love our neighbors,” the action plan begins. “In the face of renewed ICE enforcement actions and immigration raids, we must be ready to act swiftly, courageously, and in solidarity.”