Faith in Public Life: Rev. Jen Butler - Commentary from the intersection of progressive Christian faith and modern public policy.

We must defeat dehumanization

June 20, 2019 By Rev. Jen Butler

Throughout Scripture, from Exodus to the Babylonian exile to Jesus’s flight, forced migration and deportation are formative experiences. God calls us to take on the identity of those who are expelled and those who are forced to flee. From the Indian Removal Act of 1830 to Operation Wetback of 1954 to the millions of deportations in the last decade, U.S. history too is marred by dislocation of innocent people. By announcing this week his intention to deport millions of immigrants,… Read more

What President Trump has broken apart, Congress must put back together.

May 15, 2019 By Rev. Jen Butler

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Remarks I gave at a Mother’s Day rally – calling for action from the Trump administration to reunite all the families which they separated. I’m a mom, I’m a Presbyterian pastor, and I’m a believer in the values that our nation espouses. Today I speak as all three, and I’m proud to gather here with you. In fact, today is a day of worship in my community and worship means to serve in Hebrew, so I can think of no… Read more

No second class citizens in the kingdom of God

March 14, 2019 By Rev. Jen Butler

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In many places in the United States, a same-sex couple can be legally married on a Saturday and fired for it on Monday. LGBTQ people — my neighbors, family, friends and fellow congregants — can be fired from a job, denied a place to live, refused service at a place of business, ordered to leave a bathroom, or deprived of medical care because of who they are or who they love. This discrimination is unjust and immoral. But in many… Read more

All Families Belong Together

March 6, 2019 By Rev. Jen Butler

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Today I went to a hearing held by the House Homeland Security Committee where Secretary Kristjen Nielsen was speaking. After the hearing, I went outside with a coalition of groups to call her – and our whole nation – to repentance for how we have treated immigrants. Below is an edited version of my remarks. My God teaches that love casts out all fear. My God has created all people and all families in the divine image. I believe that… Read more

Trump’s Wall is Immoral: What Bible are you Reading Pastor Jeffress?

February 11, 2019 By Rev. Jen Butler

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I have to wonder what Bible President Trump’s close evangelical advisors are reading. Pastor Jeffress of First Baptist Church of Dallas Texas in a recent NPR interview justified Trump’s build-a-wall solution to immigration by cherry-picking certain biblical texts and misconstruing them. As a seminary professor once told me, a text without a context is a pretext. Religious supporters of compassionate immigration laws often cite the hundreds of verses of Christian and Jewish scripture that command us to welcome the alien… Read more

The Moral Vision Trump Should Have Delivered

January 10, 2019 By Rev. Jen Butler

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Earlier this week, President Trump delivered an Oval Office address on immigration that sought to stoke fear and hatred in the hearts of the American people. He pleaded for funds to build a monument of bigotry that we don’t need. Today, President Trump visited the border town of McAllen, Texas to double down on his racist and immoral rhetoric. People of faith must condemn racist ideology. Children and mothers seeking safety at our borders from insurmountable violence are deserving of… Read more

Tear Gassing Children is Not Christian

November 27, 2018 By Rev. Jen Butler

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As Americans finished up Thanksgiving celebrations, immigrant children fleeing violence in their home countries were tear gassed at the border. President Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and racist, fear-mongering rhetoric are to blame. We can be better than this. As a Christian, my soul is indelibly marked by God’s frequent exhortation: “remember who you are.” Hundreds of verses like this one pepper nearly every book of the Bible, particularly the legal codes of Hebrew Scripture: “And you are to love those who… Read more

This is the Year of the Faithful Women in Politics

November 10, 2018 By Rev. Jen Butler

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This image means a lot to me pic.twitter.com/vj5JW9Bji7— Solomon (@solomonmissouri) November 8, 2018 In a rebuke of President Trump and the Republican party’s racism, attacks on health care, the separation immigrant children from their parents, and failure to confront sexual abuse, women turned out to vote for women in record numbers. The result is an election that will go down in history as the year of the woman in politics. Voters will send a historic 100-plus women to Congress, including… Read more

Trump’s Nationalism is Incompatible with Christianity

October 25, 2018 By Rev. Jen Butler

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Speaking at an election rally for Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Trump admitted to being a nationalist: You know, they have a word. It sort of became old-fashioned. It’s called a nationalist. And I say, really, we’re not supposed to use that word. You know what I am? I’m a nationalist, OK? I’m a nationalist. This is hardly a revelation. Trump’s actions have already earned him this label. But it indicates another milestone in Trump’s chipping away at democracy and human… Read more

Is Democracy Done? The Road after Kavanaugh

October 16, 2018 By Rev. Jen Butler

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No, it’s not done. But that’s the right question. It means that unlike many Americans, you no longer take democracy for granted. Democracy can only be maintained by vigilance and we have been headed down the road to unfreedom for some time. The Kavanaugh appointment was a failure for our democracy on so many levels. The Senate failed to fully vet a lifetime appointment with a faux FBI investigation of sexual assault charges and a refusal to release millions of… Read more