"Is Donald Trump Right About Closing the Border to Muslims?"

blog ^ | 12/07/2015 | Russell Moore

[MacNaughton]

Donald Trump is at it again. This time, the Republican presidential frontrunner suggests that the United States should close the border to all Muslims—including Muslim-Americans traveling abroad. Anyone who cares an iota about religious liberty should denounce this reckless, demagogic rhetoric.

Trump, of course, is a master at knowing and seizing a moment. The country is reeling from a terrorist attack by two Islamic radicals. Moreover, the president seems to many to have little plan to eradicate the threat of the Islamic State from building a massive caliphate in the Middle East and exporting terror all over the world. Enter the Man in the Trump Tower with a plan to “get tough” by closing the borders to Muslims, all Muslims, simply because they are Muslim.

As an evangelical Christian, I could not disagree more strongly with Islam. I believe that salvation comes only through union with Jesus Christ, received through faith. As part of the church’s mission, we believe we should seek to persuade our Muslim neighbors of the goodness and truth of the gospel. It is not in spite of our gospel conviction, but precisely because of it, that we should stand for religious liberty for everyone.

The Revolutionary-era Baptist preacher John Leland repeatedly included “the Turks” in his list of those included in the sorts of religious freedoms he was demanding from the politicians of his time (including Thomas Jefferson and James Madison). This was despite the fact that there were virtually no Muslims to speak of in the colonies or in the new republic. Leland included them specifically and intentionally anyway. He wanted to make it clear that his concept of religious freedom was not dependent on a group’s political power. He chose the most despised religious minority of the time, with no political collateral in his context, to make the point that religious freedom is a natural right bestowed by God, not a grant given out by the government.

The governing authorities have a responsibility, given by God, to protect the population from violence, and to punish the evildoers who perpetrate such violence (Rom. 13:1-7). The governing powers, as with every earthly power, have a limited authority. The government cannot exalt itself as a lord over the conscience, a god over the soul.

The United States government should fight, and fight hard, against radical Islamic jihadism. The government should close the borders to anyone suspected of even a passing involvement with any radical cell or terrorist network. But the government should not penalize law-abiding people, especially those who are American citizens, for holding their religious convictions.

Muslims are an unpopular group these days. And I would argue that non-violent Muslim leaders have a responsibility to call out terror and violence and jihad. At the same time, those of us who are Christians ought to stand up for religious liberty not just when our rights are violated but on behalf of others too.

Make no mistake. A government that can shut down mosques simply because they are mosques can shut down Bible studies because they are Bible studies. A government that can close the borders to all Muslims simply on the basis of their religious belief can do the same thing for evangelical Christians. A government that issues ID badges for Muslims simply because they are Muslims can, in the fullness of time, demand the same for Christians because we are Christians.

We are in a time of war, and we should respond as those in a time of war. But we must never lose in a time of war precious freedoms purchased through the blood of patriots in years past. We must have security and we must have order. But we must not trade soul freedom for an illusion of winning.

[MacNaughton]

Russell Moore, aged 44, serves as the 8th president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the moral and public policy agency of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination which has 15.8 million members in 46,000 churches.. An ethicist and theologian by background, Dr. Moore is also an ordained Southern Baptist minister and the author of several books. A native Mississippian, he and his wife Maria are the parents of 5 sons and live in a suburb of Nashville, TN. Moore is an influential figure in the evangelical community, and frequently goes to bat for religious social conservatives in the national media.

"FR 11202015 Russell Moore, Conservative Christian Leader Blasts Anti-Refugee Rhetoric, Calls For Compassion"

5/02/2014

Moore was an aide to U. S. Rep. Gene Taylor (D-MS) serving in various roles including as campaign communications director and press spokesman in Taylor's 1992 campaign against Republican Paul Harvey. He was later part of the social liberal coup in the leadership of the SBC in 2013 which ensued after the uproar that Richand Land caused by his controversial comments about the Trayvon Martin case that resulted in an official reprimand by the ERLC's executive committee. Moore succeeded Land as president of the ERLC in 2013. He is soft on resisting the illegal alien hordes in the U.S., wishy-washy in his position on homosexuality, has promoted racial reconciliation by repudiating the SBC's racist history (In 1995, the SBC voted to adopt a resolution renouncing its racist roots and apologizing for its past defense of slavery, segregation, and white supremacy.) and working for churches that are multiracial venues of reconciliation as a witness to the coming kingdom, i.e., he is encouraging predominately white congregations to integrate with black worshippers, and denounced the Confederate flag after the Charleston Massacre of 2015. Many denominations receive federal tax dollars for helping resettle refugees, including the Muslim refugees from the Middle East. Social liberals of various intensities are found frequently in evangelical academia, including SBC colleges and seminaries, but the SBC itself is not controlled by them.

[MotorCityBuck]

Yes.

[Da Coyote]

Hell yes!

[DiogenesLamp]

"Is Donald Trump Right About Closing the Border to Muslims?"

Yes. Next Question.

[stephenjohnbanker]

Yes, and we need a minimum 5 year moratorium on ANY immigration.

[Jim Robinson]

Islam is a subversive fascist totalitarian ideology.

[The Iceman Cometh]

The government is incapable and unwilling to protect it's citizens.

Trump is right once again.

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

This guy is a liar.

Trump NEVER said anything about not allowing Muslim-Americans to return to the U.S.

Trump said, They’re Americans. Of course they will be allowed to return.

[stboz]

What's the procedure? Ask them if they're muslim?

They will lie and say they're not muslim. Then what? Draw straws?

[Chainmail]

Where to find these squishy, useless non-fighters anyway? Ought to hand this guy to ISIS and watch what happens.

[Hattie]

Obama has closed the border to any Christians from other war torn nations. No one has mentioned that. Why should we be forced to import people who hate us, hate our way of life, hate our constitution and legal system. 50% of the Muslims here believe they should have Sharia law. Why are they here?????

We have no jobs for the Americans now. Why are we bringing in more immigrants to put them all on welfare. Someone has to wake up and stop this madness.

[Huntress]

We need to reject any prospective immigrants who do not want to assimilate into our society, and who instead want to recreate the third world hellholes they came from here.

[jimbug]

Yep he is. We would do well to remember the exchange between Thomas Jefferson and the Ambassador of Tripoli in 1784, explained here: http://captainjamesdavis.net/2015/02/05/thomas-jefferson-and-john-adams-explain-why-muslims-turn-to-terrorism/ In a nutshell, Muslims believe it is their duty, spelled out in the Quran, to kill ALL unbelievers.

Bottom line--it is them or us.

[mulligan]

Yes , yes and hell yes.

[Jim Robinson]

Islam is colonizing America. Each mosque or community center is a colonial operation, command and control center. This is where they spread their subversive message, recruit and radicalize and train their murderous jihadis.

[NKP_Vet]

Trump seems to be the only one running for president, on either side, who realizes we’re at war. The establishment bimbos hate him so much they are siding with democrats to once again try and run him out of the race for stating the obvious. Trump is the only candidate saying what Americans are feeling. We are sick and damn tired of having a president that does nothing to protect us for radical murdering muslims. There has to be a start somewhere and stopping this crazy flow of muslims into the country until we can figure out who the bad guys are makes sense to anyone that had a brain between their ears. Trump continues to have a leader while the others are spineless PC wimps no better than Obama.

[VRWCmember]

This guy is a liar.
Trump NEVER said anything about not allowing Muslim-Americans to return to the U.S.
Trump said, They’re Americans. Of course they will be allowed to return.

Incorrect. Initially, Trump called for barring any muslim from entering the US -- EVEN Muslim-Americans who were traveling abroad. It was only a day or two later that he walked back those comments and conceded that muslim American citizens would be allowed to return.

[Vendome]

“But the government should not penalize law-abiding people, especially those who are American citizens, for holding their religious convictions.”

No one is contemplating or discussing a bridging the rights of American Citizens, at all....

Foreigners do not enjoy the rights and privileges of American citizenship or culture.

We may and can, rightly, deny entry as well, deport anyone of foreign citizenship.

Which means if you hold dual citizenship and are so much as suspected of involvement in homicidal Islamic acts or support, you can and should toss yer ass out of these United States.

So, cute position in wanting to seem morally relevant but, inviting alligators into your oasis is inviting Darwinic Karma.

[Iron Munro]

Yse - the country needs a breather.

It is time to shut down all immigration until the government has workable and effective systems to vet immigrants, track immigrants and visitors, quickly deport illegal entrants and visa overstays, etc.

We have better tracking and control on hot dog meats and cows milk than we do on terrorists entering the country both legally and illegally.

And we have a giant slug of somewhere between 12 and 50 million illegals that have not assimilated and have to be dealt with.

[Bob434]

Carter did it during the iran crisis- Was he a racist too?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3369938/posts