Sept. 16, 2024 - Straight White American Jesus
06:53
| 
| Time | Text |
|---|---|
| AXIS Moondy AXIS Moondy We're going to build the wall. | |
| We have no choice. | |
| We have no choice. | |
| Build that war. | |
| Build that wall! | |
| From the moment he announced his run for president in June 2015, Donald Trump has centered his politics around restricting immigration to this country. | |
| He does so not only by calling for the construction of physical boundaries, but by leaning on dehumanizing language and racist tropes to depict newcomers to this nation as nothing more than criminals and parasites. | |
| When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. | |
| They're not sending you. | |
| They're not sending you. | |
| They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. | |
| They're bringing drugs. | |
| They're bringing crime. | |
| They're rapists. | |
| And some, I assume, are good people. | |
| But I speak to border guards. | |
| Perhaps Americans have gotten used to calls to build the wall, coming from the political right. | |
| But one group that has taken up that charge, as of late, has begun to transform not just politics, but also faith in this nation. | |
| Joining Trump and his followers over the last few years have been religious leaders and influencers, who readily echo the calls for hardcore immigration policies. | |
| Take, for example, Robert Jeffress, a nationally syndicated televangelist and pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, who has been one of Trump's staunchest allies. | |
| In 2018, he took to Fox News to bless the president's call for stricter border enforcement. | |
| Quoting the book of Nehemiah, the pastor proclaimed that walls are as about as Christian as you can get. | |
| You know, I had the privilege of preaching the sermon before President Trump's inauguration, and I chose the Old Testament story of God telling Nehemiah to build a wall around Jerusalem. | |
| And I said, Mr. President, God is not against walls. | |
| Walls are not unchristian. | |
| The Bible says even heaven is going to have a wall around it. | |
| Not everyone's going to be allowed in. | |
| Pastor, what do you think of the larger These mixings of hardline immigration policy and religion didn't end with Trump's tenure in the White House. | |
| In early 2024, a convoy of protesters made their way from Virginia to the U.S.-Mexico border. | |
| Their goal? | |
| Expose a supposed migrant invasion that was going to overrun the nation and do so in the name of the Lord. | |
| Calling themselves God's Army, the Motley crew included Christian nationalists, QAnon conspiracy theorists, and paramilitary groups. | |
| They repeated claims made by far-right pundits and political leaders who warned of a, quote, great replacement of white Americans by non-white migrants. | |
| I believe the invasion has, you know, they're trying to, I believe there is a die-off happening and in order to cover that up, I believe that they're bringing more people in to replace Americans. | |
| At each of their Take Our Border Back rallies held in border towns, meanwhile, religious rhetoric and practice was ever-present. | |
| In Camado, Texas, as people rallied against this so-called migrant invasion and the subsequent Great Replacement of white Americans, organizers held baptisms as onlookers praised the Lord. | |
| In the name of the Holy Spirit, in the name of the mission of your sins, I now baptize you in the name of Jesus. | |
| - Amen. - Amen. - Hallelujah! - Attendees, however, didn't just join these protests to be born again. | |
| They were also there to prepare to protect the country's borders, even if it meant taking up arms. | |
| The stakes are too high, they argued, for anything but the most drastic of measures. | |
| We're in a crisis in this country. | |
| I actually believe it's going to eventually get to a shooting war. | |
| Our government's ignoring the rule of law. | |
| They're weaponizing the FBI to go after Trump, to go after everyone else. | |
| They're ignoring the laws that they want to ignore. | |
| And they're allowing millions of illegals to cross the border, probably just because they're hoping they're going to vote Democrat. | |
| The message from these instances is clear. | |
| God and faith are intricately connected with a nationalistic approach of Trump and his followers, all of whom want to build physical barriers to keep out newcomers. | |
| And because they view the stakes as being so high, some of them are willing to go to great lengths, even enacting violence, if it means protecting the Christian America they know and love. | |
| But what if I told you that one of the biggest movements to protect migrants, to help them find a place within this country, for those people who are fleeing violence or are simply looking to create a better life in the United States, was led by people of faith? | |
| What if there was a movement that has been cultivated within religious spaces, dedicated to a radical hospitality, to live out the gospel by welcoming the stranger, to offer safe harbor to those who have journeyed thousands of miles and braved unspeakable violence, crossing into the United States, and doing so under threat of detention and deportation. | |
| My name is Dr. Lloyd Barba. | |
| And I'm Dr. Sergio Gonzalez. | |
| And we're historians of Latino migration and religion. | |
| We are here to share the story of this movement, one in which churches and synagogues transformed the way in which Americans understand the relationship between faith and politics. | |
| We'd like to tell you about a phenomenon that has helped jumpstart one of the most important immigrant and refugee justice movements in the history of the United States, doing so from houses of worship all across the nation. | |
| If you're a premium subscriber, you'll get early access and you'll be able to listen to the first episode today. | |
| Thanks for listening. | |
| Have a good day. |
Export Selection