I'm A Pastor, And Romans 13 Should Never Be Used To Defend Family Separation

From Arizona-

Father Robert Hendrickson is the rector at St. Philip's In The Hills Episcopal Church in Tuscon, Arizona. This is a letter he sent to his congregation this week after Attorney General Jeff Sessions cited Romans 13 to justify a zero-tolerance immigration policy on the border.

As many of you know, there are two ways by which I am familiar with the pain of family separation.  First, my mother died when I was quite young after divorce and a long illness.  Second, and more recently, Karrie and I adopted boys from difficult circumstances.  Each day we navigate the land mines that the trauma of separation creates even as we forge new bonds of connection and attachment.

These experiences inform my perception of what is happening at the border now.  We can debate immigration policy, border controls, and more from a variety of points of view.  I'm afraid, however, that the pulling away of innocent children, brought without their input, consent, nor complicity is a moral evil that is not debatable.  Churches across the country are now actively condemning this policy choice — and it is that.  We are choosing to create fear, heartache, and anguish.  We can recognize that people will come, as they have for generations, across our borders with a mix of hopes, fears, and papers and treat all those who arrive with dignity even as we debate the legalities of the situation.  It is another thing entirely to willingly, and with the express purpose of causing maximum horror to families, choose this course.

More here-

https://aplus.com/a/father-hendrickson-arizona-pastor-jeff-sessions-romans-13