Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg recently posted a piece over at Forward discussing the Trump administration’s policy of separating children from their parents at the US-Mexico border. Attorney General Jeff Sessions cited Romans 13:1 as justification for the cruel and unnecessary practice that has left thousands of children essentially orphaned. Ruttenberg writes in her piece,
Sessions’ policy is Biblical, all right. But he stands, like Pharaoh, oppressing a vulnerable people in direct opposition to the values of compassion, humanity, and the understanding that all human beings are created in God’s image. Pharaoh hardened his own heart many, many times against the Israelites, but we know how that story went, and whose side the Biblical tale took.
There are plenty of things to disagree with in this piece. In some ways it suffers from the Sharpshooter Fallacy where we count the hits and not the misses, i.e. the times where God seems to endorse rather horrific things. But what I find commendable is that Ruttenberg and others like her are taking a stand against the Trump administration’s horrendous policy and they do so in the context of their faith.
You can read her piece here. I’d also recommend reading this piece put out by CNN’s Daniel Burke.
The Amateur Exegete 