A recent article in the Baptist Press illustrates just how diverse the refugee advocacy community really is–and now, some pro-immigrant organizations have joined forces with an anti-Moslem, anti-gay hate group. The issue that has brought together this “coalition of religious, conservative, and human rights leaders” is the material support bar and the Obama Administration’s failure to adopt reforms to prevent innocent refugees from being classified as terrorists (I touched on this problem in a previous post).
Among the groups that joined together to call for reform are the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), Human Rights First, Concerned Women for America, the National Association of Evangelicals, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The group that really stands out to me is Concerned Women for America. Here are some quotes from their website:
In a time when families are struggling to pay their mortgages and utility bills, much less buy Christmas presents for their loved ones, the Smithsonian Institution, which is partly funded by American taxpayers, is promoting an exhibit that degrades Christianity and exalts homosexuality…. I urge Congress to swiftly take steps to defund the Smithsonian Institution for their reckless and inexcusable judgment in funding such a project.
On September 15, 2011, CWA will present an in-depth discussion with experts on America’s most important policy issue. This issue affects foreign policy, human rights and perhaps even our own system of law in the future. Come join us and our panel as we expose underlying tenets of Sharia Law and how it threatens our nation and your family.
Another measure that failed during the lame duck session was the DREAM Act, a back door amnesty bill that would grant automatic citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants, with “children” defined as anyone up to the age of 35.
So, CWA hates Moslems and DREAM Act children. They also hate gay people: the Southern Poverty Law Center notes that the organization’s founder “has blamed gay people for a ‘radical leftist crusade’ in America and, over the years, has occasionally equated homosexuality with pedophilia.” But the CWA supports reforming the material support bar for refugees, and is thus part of the broader coalition.
What’s surprising to me is that mainstream groups such as HIAS and Human Rights First–groups that I strongly support–would join together with a group like CWA. Maybe I am naive to think that reform can occur without a broad coalition, but it seems to me that some groups are simply beyond the pale. Don’t get me wrong–I greatly respect most of the groups that have joined together to call for reforming the material support bar. But I respectfully suggest that they should be more careful about who they partner with in the future. To me at least, the ends simply do not justify the means.