Pope Leo XIV, and Pope Francis before him, have clearly emphasized the Catholic Church’s teaching on how we are to treat immigrants. Scripture brims with examples, but let me just give one, Leviticus 19:34: “You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; have the same love for him as for yourself; for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt.”

Unfortunately, many among us, including political leaders who identify as Christian, attempt to use Scripture to defend their xenophobia. Current House Speaker Mike Johnson recently said this (and I’m getting this from an article in The Christian Post):

“Borders and walls are biblical,” Johnson, a Southern Baptist, responded. “From the Old Testament to the New, God has allowed us to set up our civil societies and have separate nations.”

“Immigration is not something that’s frowned upon in Scripture,” he added. “We’re to welcome the sojourner and love our neighbor as ourself.”

The speaker continued: “What’s also important in the Bible is that assimilation is expected and anticipated and proper.”

“When someone comes into your country, comes into your nation, they do not have the right to change its laws or to change its society,” Johnson said. “They are expected to assimilate.”

“We haven’t had a lot of that going on,” he insisted.

He further states that when the Bible calls us to care for “the sojourner and the neighbor” it is “an admonition to individuals, not the civil authorities.”

Wow, it’s hard to know where to start, but let me give it a try:

• Borders and walls are not biblical, they were (and are) reality. Borders and walls have been around as long as humanity and the fact that they are found in the Bible doesn’t mean we invented them. Likewise with separate nations. God did not make a map for us to follow.
• There is nothing (NOTHING) in the Bible that demands assimilation. Much of Jesus’ ministry in the Gospels describes the difficulty in maintaining Jewish identity during Roman occupation and at no time does Jesus command us to become Romans.
• Here in the United States we live in a democracy. Civil authorities govern only with the consent of individuals and there is no “us vs. them.” We are all “us.” Because of that any admonition that binds individuals must also bind civil authorities. How dare he lecture the Pope on the Bible when he misunderstands even the basics of democracy.

Finally, Speaker Johnson uses something called proof texting. Rather than explore a Biblical passage to understand its meaning, a proof texter will begin with his own opinion and scour the Bible to find a passage that appears to back him up with no regard for original meaning or context.

Speaker Johnson, if you’re going to claim authority on either the Bible or democracy, get better at it.