Washington, D.C.:  Dozens of clerics organized by the new multifaith group, Faith Leaders for America, released today an open letter to President Donald Trump supporting his efforts to protect Americans through a prudent pause in immigration and refugee resettlement from seven problematic nations.  Their letter says in part:

…As faith leaders, we want to thank you for: following a discerning and Biblical approach to the “wise welcome” of foreigners, including refugees; your commitment to border security; and your determination to end the magnet for illegal immigration represented by so-called “sanctuary” cities.  All of these initiatives have firm foundations in Biblical instruction.  (Emphasis added.)

This open letter is being circulated for signature by other ordained clergy and spiritual leaders in response to efforts by those selectively invoking passages from the Bible in opposition to the President’s initiatives.  One such misleading influence operation was led earlier this month by World Relief.  Unmentioned in its open letter to the President and Vice President is that organization’s blatant conflict of interest:  World Relief garnered over $225 million from the federal government from 2008-2016 as payments for its resettlement of refugees.

In addition, several U.S. cities were subjected on Sunday to demonstrations billed as “interfaith” rallies in which non-Muslim clerics joined others in the crowd in professing that they were “Muslim, too.”  The one in New York, however, featured prominently Linda Sarsour, a Sharia-supremacist who epitomizes the intolerance that alienates many people of other faiths.  For example, in 2011, she used Twitter to attack former Muslim Ayaan Hirsi Ali and ACT for America founder Brigitte Gabriel for their opposition to suppression of freedom in the name of Islam. She declared, “I wish I could take their vaginas away – they don’t deserve to be women.”

Ordained clerics and other spiritual leaders who actually support freedom of expression, as well as freedom of religion, are encouraged to join the Faith Leaders for America’s open letter (full text, as well as those who signed, here).

Visitors to the site can also view the group’s rollout press conference at the National Press Club on January 19, 2017.

Faith Leaders for America is a dedicated group of clergy and leaders from various faith communities who share a common commitment to freedom—freedom of religion, freedom of speech and the other liberties guaranteed by our Constitution—along with a firm commitment to address the imminent threats to those freedoms.