(RNS) — Southern Baptists adopted a resolution on immigration at their annual meeting, affirming “love of neighbor” but also legal immigration enforcement.
The resolution, one of 11 nonbinding statements adopted that gave a sense of viewpoints of those gathered at the Southern Baptist Convention’s meeting in Orlando, Florida, was adopted after the denomination’s public policy arm broke ties with an evangelical immigration advocacy group last September.
“We reject amnesty, understood as forgiveness of legal violations without accountability,” read the denomination’s Wednesday (June 10) statement, which also disavowed “all ideologies or rhetoric that deny the equal worth and dignity of any people group regardless of immigration status.” It also affirmed “that Christian compassion and hospitality do not negate lawful order or excuse indifference to public justice and social peace.”
Before a vote, the statement prompted questions on the floor of the Orange County Convention Center, including from Kyle Stachewicz, lead pastor of a Reedsburg, Wisconsin, church. He said some of its language would convey to young adults carried across the border at a young age and later baptized in a Southern Baptist church “that we see no distinction between them and someone who willfully broke the law as an adult.”
He added: “I fear that not recognizing this will close doors to gospel ministry in immigrant communities at the exact moment that we are asking Southern Baptist churches …