Eighty religious plaintiffs from 11 major faith traditions have joined lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s immigration policies, according to a tracker developed by RNS with the Law, Rights, and Religion Project.
Radicalized by COVID-19 and anger over immigration, right-wing pastors like Tobias Riemenschneider in Germany hope to gain followers by promoting conservative Christian views and politics. They have looked to religious right leaders and conservative influencers in the US for inspiration.
The Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) Party scored a pivotal victory for the far-right in Germany, an outcome churches fiercely fought to prevent. Their inability to stop it and the spread of the party’s anti-immigrant agenda expose a deeper rift in communities in which churches were
'I think it is imperative on me, as a faith leader, to proclaim that human beings are not targets and that God is a God of justice and of love,’ said the Rev. Rebecca Girrell, a United Methodist pastor who was among those arrested.
The AfD may gain power on Sept. 6 in Saxony-Anhalt, posing a direct threat to refugees and the German churches that serve them. Inspired by past resistance in East Germany, faith leaders are doing everything they can to stand in the way of the far-right
As the Trump administration claims ‘anti-Christian bias’ under Biden, activists and mainline Protestant denominations are pushing back against ‘church invasions by ICE.’
‘All I want is to see my husband back,’ said Denise Gedeon, whose pastor-husband, Joubert Adrien, was detained by ICE — one of two pastors arrested during a weekend that also brought a death, prayers, and vigils for a Haitian community under siege.
Faith leaders recently spoke out against the ICE activity after a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court allowed President Trump to end temporary protected status for the 330,000 Haitians who’ve fled violence.
For years, the Rev. Eduardo Fabian Arias, a Lutheran pastor in Manhattan, has ministered to immigrants. Now, much of his work takes place inside and around Federal Plaza immigration court in Midtown Manhattan.
'When I go to their house, they have to make sure it's me before they even go to the door,' Pastor Jean-Daniel Berard, who leads Passionate LightHouse of God, said of his church members. 'The fear is real.'