Faith and Families on the Border

Faith Leaders United Against Family Separation

Over the course of three days this month, the crisis around the separation of children from their families illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border reached a fever pitch, and Pres. Donald Trump issued a new executive order to keep families together. It was a big reversal, and it followed intense public outcry, notably from a broad coalition of people of faith. In a country where the number of people unaffiliated with religious traditions is rising, what role did America’s faith communities have in bringing us to this point?  We talk to Jack Jenkins national reporter with Religion News Service, Emma Green, writer at The Atlantic magazine and Jim Wallis, president and founder of Sojourners movement and magazine.

Invoking Romans 13 for Political Purposes Provokes a Look into History

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a conservative Methodist, sparked backlash after he recently cited Biblical scripture to defend a policy of separating children from their parents after illegally crossing the U.S. border. We learn the context of the passage Romans 13, how Christian views differ on its application to this policy, and how it has been used in American history. Guests include Rev. Graylan Hagler of Washington, DC’s Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ, Anthea Butler, an associate professor of religion and Africana studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and Mark Tooley, the president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy.

Asylum and the Border Crisis

Asylum has come to the forefront of this latest flashpoint in the immigration debate because of the thousands fleeing violence in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. We learn more about the challenges facing the country’s asylum system and why migrants are coming to the U.S.-Mexico border.  Featuring Mark Hetfield, president and CEO of HIAS
Linda Rabben, an associate research professor of anthropology at the University of Maryland, Fr. Sean Carroll, executive director of the Kino Border Initiative and Catholic priest, Fr. Bob Mosher, director of the Columban Mission Center in El Paso, Texas and Catholic priest, and Marco Grimaldo, senior associate for Latino engagement at Bread for the World.


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