Big Business Conservatives Christian Religious Leaders: How Faith Inspires Activism

In recent months, a growing movement has emerged among liberal religious leaders to advocate for immigrant rights, universal healthcare, LGBTQ rights, and racial justice. This effort is driven by moral values, rather than politics. Jennifer Butler, an ordained Presbyterian minister and founder of the group Faith in Public Life, explains that her faith inspires her activism.

'There are over a hundred verses of Scripture that say we are to welcome immigrants and welcome strangers,' Butler says. 'How I can make a difference in the lives of others is what it's all about for me.'

Butler's organization has organized rallies to protest the Trump administration's detention of migrant families and its plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, moves that she believes conflict with biblical teachings.

'The way that I personally interpret my Christian faith and my own Christian walk,' she says, 'is that it's an active challenge.'

Tara Agnew Harris, a member of Myers Park Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, has also been exploring issues related to immigrant injustice. She traveled with other Faith in Public Life activists to the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, where undocumented immigrants were being held.

'Our moral values speak to the kinds of just laws that we ought to have,' Butler says.

Faith in Public Life believes that faith has a critical role to play in shaping public policies and influencing decision-makers. This approach is a departure from the Moral Majority movement of nearly 40 years ago, which was led by prominent evangelical Christians and aimed to promote a conservative political agenda.

However, the provocations of President Trump may finally be changing that. Religious conservatives have rarely faced competition in the political realm from faith-based groups on the left. But religious liberals are becoming increasingly outspoken in their opposition to many Trump administration policies.

As Butler says, 'We believe that faith has a critical role to play in shaping public policies and influencing decision-makers.' And it's clear that this movement is gaining momentum, with dozens of clergy members, immigration activists, and others participating in protests against the imprisonment and potential deportation of an immigration activist.

Big business conservatives christian religious leaders