Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform put this new activism on the part of churches, which actually borders on civil disobedience, this way: "We believe in the rule of law, but we also believe that we are to oppose unjust laws and systems that harm and oppress people made in God's image, especially the vulnerable." Maviglio takes glee in pointing out the politics of it, namely that it splits the Republican base and creates a dilemma for Republican strategists torn between the anti-immigrant base and the growing latino electorate, a tension that has already riven the party with Bush's allegiance leaning toward the latter. But ultimately it's much bigger than that. What we're seeing is the emergence of a new coalition where the progressive view and the Christian view are increasingly merging into one. Bush et al did a great job in his first term of driving wedges between the two groups, leading conservative Christians to believe that Republicans had a monopoly on values. But the confluence of several recent developments is contributing to the destruction of that facade: 1. Progressives are framing issues in terms of values, ie Al Gore and John Edwards talking about fighting global warming and eradicating poverty as moral imperatives; 2. Prominent Republican conservatives are framing the progressive (ie mainstream) point of view in terms of faith, ie Gov. Huckabee talking about the environment in terms of stewardship over the earth at the debate last week; 3.Progressive faith groups such as Clergy and Laity Uniting for Economic Justice (CLUE) are emerging as a political force. These developments are extremely significant for the progressive movement and for immigration reform specifically as the next few months promise to be decisive both in terms of moving the message as well as legislatively. |
