satyadasa

I was going to write something long concerning how Leviticus 19:33-34 and the literally dozens of Scriptural reminders in the Law and the Prophets that "the alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born" (NIV) should compel Christians toward advocating social attitudes and legal systems that make no distinction between citizen and non-citizen, but since this article [PDF] lays the research groundwork and says what I was wanting to say (and does so without me having to do a lot of work), I'll just make a brief comment.

Scripturally, there is much more to this than "love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt". There is even a commandment for impartiality between alien and brother (Deuteronomy 1:16) It's not only in the Torah but in Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Malachi, and other of the Old Testament Prophets from which Christians have tended to draw more social principles than the Torah. It is also certainly not one of those groups of commandments that Christians believe to have been abrogated for Gentiles by the sacrifice of Jesus. This isn't eating shellfish. It's a social justice principle echoed in the career of Jesus and the transnational, multilinguistic missionary explosion of the early Church. Can a self-professed advocate for a Biblical basis for the law really argue that people have different sets of rights based on where they were born or what nationality they hold? Or do they have to admit that concepts like "legal", "illegal", or even "immigrant" have completely secular origins?

Will the large intersection of people who a. see themselves as Biblical literalists who would better apply Scriptural principles to law and b. act as {insert nationality here} nativists ever see the inconsistency of their position? Perhaps those who are honest with themselves will. I have seen more hope for evangelical progressivism in the United States during this election cycle than I ever imagined I would see. For many others, it will always be a matter of relying on a select few verses that fit pre-existing culture clash memes, but I can see a future for the above argument in some important circles. Equality for aliens has certainly worked for social justice in Judaism, certainly has been emphasized by a great many Christians, and has parallels in Islam, but could it be part of a wider Christian, transmonotheist, or global spiritual movement against the nation-state?