By Lauren Markoe / Religion News Service
This is an abbreviated version of the story. For the full story, click here.
Religious groups and leaders, many invoking the biblical command to welcome the stranger, lambasted President Trump’s orders indefinitely banning Syrian refugees from the U.S. and temporarily halting the entry of refugees from other countries and visa holders from seven Muslim-majority nations.
Federal judges have partially blocked the orders, which Trump issued late on Jan. 27.
Several of the statements below are edited for length.
Amanda Tyler, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty
Friday’s action was “a back-door bar on Muslim refugees, telling an entire faith group that they are not welcome on our shores. Any attempt to ban Muslim refugees based on their religion betrays our values and sends the un-American message that there are second-class faiths. Our country, founded by immigrants who established religious freedom as a bedrock principle, is better than this. A threat to anyone’s religious liberty is a threat to everyone’s religious liberty, and we as Baptists stand with those facing religious persecution around the world, regardless of their faith.” …
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