When it comes to dismissing the plight of refugees, evangelicals take the cake

In the era of Trump, the moral foundation of some his most loyal supporters is a hot topic of debate amongst people trying to understand the phenomenon that vaulted him to the presidency. When it comes to evangelical Christians, their claims of “family values” sexual morality seem in direct conflict with the lifestyle of the man a decent majority of them supported during the 2016 campaign to the present day.

Now according to new a study from the Pew Research Center, white evangelicals are the largest group to reject the notion that the U.S. has a responsibility to take in refugees.

According to the Pew poll, only 25 percent of evangelicals said they believe the U.S. should accept refugees, half the percentage of Catholics who said the same thing and significantly lower than those who identify with no religion at all, as The Washington Post points out.

Coming in second to evangelicals in the ‘least supportive’ category were people with no college degree.

From The Washington Post:

There is, of course, a heavy overlap between evangelical Americans and Republicans. Since Trump took office, the percentage of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents believing that there is a responsibility to accept refugees has slipped from about a third to just over a quarter. That’s what’s driven the overall number lower; support for accepting refugees among Democrats has increased.

Earlier this year Trump evangelical adviser Pastor Robert Jeffress put himself front and center as a defender of Trump’s stance on immigrants and refugees. Jeffress is the head pastor of the First Baptist Dallas megachurch and a “spiritual adviser” to Trump. In January, he said that Trump was “right on target” in his comments saying immigrants from Africa and Haiti came from “shithole countries.”

“Apart from the vocabulary attributed to him, President Trump is right on target in his sentiment,” Jeffress told CBN’s David Brody. “As individual Christians, we have biblical responsibility to place the needs of others above our own, but as Commander-in-Chief, President Trump has the constitutional responsibility to place the needs of our nation above the needs of other countries.”

“I’m grateful we have a President like Donald Trump who clearly understands that distinction and has the courage to protect the well-being of our nation,” he added.

Jeffress’s defense of Trump is most notable is its endorsement of the very essence of racism: that human beings are not individuals to be judged based on merit, but on the preconceptions of their ethnic places of origin. Shithole countries equal shithole humans; that’s the message Jeffress is endorsing along with his evangelical flock.

Featured image via alanrudnick.org

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.