This USA Today piece wonders if the religious coalition behind immigration reform, i.e. mass legalization, can survive President Obama's executive amnesty. It quotes Southern Baptist official Russell Moore warning it could indeed fracture the coalition. Moore is just about the only prominent religious leader within that coalition who's publicly criticized the executive amnesty. Officials from nearly all other major participants, such as the Catholic bishops, old-line Protestantism, and Evangelical groups like World Vision have been supportive. The National Association of Evangelicals has so far been carefully quiet.
A Catholic bishop quoted in the story complaining of "neo-nativists" and the "anti-immigrant faction" illustrates why this religious coalition has not been more politically effective. It's dismissive if not contemptuous of skeptics lacking enthusiasm for their prioritization of mass legalization over greater security, deriding them as virtual bigots. In fact, these skeptics include large numbers within their own religious constituencies.
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