You’ve heard of 'fake news'? Some governors are displaying 'fake faith'

Governors Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas claim to be faithful Catholics, but there is nothing faithful, and certainly nothing Catholic, about using people as political props.

Governors Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas claim to be faithful Catholics, but there is nothing faithful, and certainly nothing Catholic, about using people as political props, especially vulnerable persons. It contradicts Jesus’ greatest commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves and his instructions to care for the stranger. According to some translations, the word “stranger” in the New Testament literally means “immigrant,” and in the 25th chapter of Matthew, Jesus tells us that how we treat the stranger is how we treat him. Pretty clear. 

But, in what some Republican political commentators are calling a “great political move,” the governors are sending immigrants to places like Martha’s Vineyard, outside Vice President Harris’ residence in Washington, and other places Democrats live and govern, in an attempt to embarrass them and “own the liberals.”

Whatever the political value of this stunt is, lying to these families, including some with young children, about where they were being taken with the promise of the help and jobs they would receive – is certainly not a great moral move. 

Children were among the immigrants Gov. Ron DeSantis used as a political props to further his presidential ambitions.

Therefore, this isn’t just a political issue, it’s a theological one. Let me remind you that some of these Republican governors like to talk, as their mentor Donald Trump does, about “fake news” all the time. But I want to say that to use vulnerable people as political props is fake faith. 

We’re seeing a fake faith in operation here. So I want to say to Governors Abbott and DeSantis: Read your Bibles. Read the Gospels. Become when you say you are – faithful Christians, because you’re not acting like it. It’s time to become what you say. 

Clearly, our immigration system is broken – and both political sides share the blame for that. But to treat displaced and desperate people this way is literally a sin – a sin that must be repented. And repentance doesn’t just mean saying that you’re sorry. In all our religious traditions, repentance means turning around and going in a whole other direction. 

A broken immigration system doesn’t serve broken people, and what we need to do is help to heal those lives by fixing a broken system. That’s not just a political act, but really a religious mission. And for people of faith on both sides of the aisle, fixing a broken system should be a non-partisan and bi-partisan commitment. So Governors, pay attention to your faith, repent of what you’ve just done, and turn around. Help us all fix this broken system, instead of using it for your own personal, political and fundraising purposes.

The discussion we need to have now is about how to fix the immigration system — as there are, indeed, huge numbers of people crossing our southern border. For that we need political leaders trying to solve the problem instead of exploiting it. 

Underneath the political crisis is how a governor – or any political leader – should respond. And that’s the issue. When a political leader sees suffering, isolated and desperate people, their first response should be one of compassion, not calculation. And their second response should be how do I fix this? How do I work with others to make this better and different?

Rafael Eduardo (left) an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela hugs another immigrant outside of the Saint Andrews Episcopal Church, on Marthas Vineyard.

Governor DeSantis is thinking about running for President, and is not asking “How can I fix this?” Instead, he’s asking himself: How can I use this for my political purposes? How can I use these vulnerable people for my personal, financial, and political gain? And that is a grievous sin.

Faith leaders are not asking the governors to do something that we’re not doing ourselves. So many faith communities have been doing this work for years. So I’m wondering, maybe we could help the politicians who are stuck in their polarized partisanship. How can we help them understand how to make immigration system reform a non-partisan issue, one that we don’t need to make political? 

This is an issue that the teachings of Jesus clearly suggest we should address. The Hebrew Bible says that how we treat strangers is how we love God. Jesus says how we treat the immigrant is literally how we treat him. So how can we help politicians understand that this issue should be an exception to our partisan politics? For us, this is a moral and religious mission. Maybe this is something we could help the politicians with, to do what’s right instead of what is political. We’d be glad to help.

And to the Governors DeSantis and Abbott it’s time to replace fake faith with real faith. Our religion isn’t just private. Faith is public and you can’t profess a private faith and then do things in public that violate the core principles and teaching of your faith. Our faith is always personal, deeply personal, but never private. It’s time to see some public discipleship on the part of those who say they are political leaders.