Evangelicals see promise in immigration proposal

A coalition of evangelical leaders who hope to shape national immigration reform is expressing cautious optimism about a bipartisan Senate bill. The tentative evangelical endorsement of the Senate blueprint could be key because, more than any other religious group, white evangelicals harbor the most reservations about opening citizenship to immigrants in the U.S. illegally, according to a recent survey by the Public Religion Research Institute.

Richard Land, the outgoing public policy director for the Southern Baptist Convention, said the new bill passes the biggest hurdle for many evangelicals by not allowing amnesty and requiring undocumented immigrants to work toward American citizenship.

“It provides an earned pathway to full legal status and then to citizenship for those who want it,” Land said April 17. “That is not amnesty in any dictionary in the English language.”