The US Christians standing with their neighbours
Those of us watching in horror as the USA is plagued by an armed and seemingly unaccountable band of masked and uniformed thugs have been dismayed to hear US Christians cheering on ICE’s brutality. Shane Claiborne of Red Letter Christians shares how this is not the full picture of American Christianity.
Welcoming immigrants is not about left and right – it’s about right and wrong. Providing refuge for families fleeing poverty and violence is not a Republican thing, or a Democrat thing – it’s a love thing. And it’s a Jesus thing. There is no version of authentic Christian faith that can justify the atrocities we are seeing in the US right now – ICE raids, intimidation tactics, racist rhetoric, wicked policies, masked federal agents acting like gangsters, thugs, and bullies on our streets.
One of the most consistent themes in the Bible is that we are to show hospitality to the stranger. The Hebrew Bible says that we are to welcome the foreigner as if they were our own flesh and blood because we were once foreigners in the land of Egypt (Leviticus 19). The New Testament is full of passages that make it crystal clear, like this one: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1:27). Not only is welcoming immigrants and refugees a God-given mandate, it is a holy invitation… to love our neighbour as ourselves. The book of Hebrews even says that when we show hospitality to strangers we might be “entertaining angels without knowing it!” (Hebrews 13:2). And of course it doesn’t get any clearer than Jesus in Matthew 25 when he says that when we welcome the stranger we are welcoming him. What we do to the least of these, we do to Christ. What we do to refugees from Somalia or Haiti, we do to Jesus. God takes it personally when ICE agents rip families apart, put kids in cages, and dehumanise people made in the very image of God. It matters to God. They matter to God.
As a Christian, I lament the fact that there are many people who claim to love Jesus but are trying to defend the racist rhetoric and cruel policies of the Trump administration. Without a doubt, some factions of Christianity have tragically been the steady base for Trump, providing theological cover and twisting religion to camouflage bigotry and racism. And some of them like Franklin Graham (son of evangelist Billy Graham) have big platforms. That is clear. But what may be harder to see amid all the smoking dumpster fires in America, and harder to hear amid the racket of the religious right, is that there is another version of Christianity in America, showing up in massive, historic, costly ways right now.
To be clear, the reality that there are competing versions of Christianity is as old as America… perhaps almost as old as Christianity itself. It’s worth quoting at length the words of 19th-century abolitionist Frederick Douglass:
“Between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognise the widest possible difference – so wide, that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked. I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ; I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity.”
We see these two Christianities face-off in the conquest of native lands, the racial terror of slavery and lynching, the subjugation of women, the sanctifying of war, and right now in the militarised policing happening around the country. One version of Christian faith is deadly. Bad theology gets people killed. But the other version of our faith is one of the most powerful, life-giving, liberating conduits of social change the world has ever seen, and it’s always been that way. So let me get to the good news.
We have seen the biggest protests in US history over the past year, and Christians, pastors and clergy have shown up en masse. The streets are decorated with signs like “The Gospel is anti-fascist”; “Jesus was a refugee” and “The salt of the earth melts ICE.” Thousands upon thousands of people have been trained in nonviolent direct action (a call we were on this week had over 50,000 people on it). Those trainings are frequently hosted in church sanctuaries, and the facilitators of these trainings are very often pastors, clergy, and faith-rooted organisers. Here in Philly, groups like Mennonite Action and Faith in Action have nonviolently blocked ICE facilities, and shut down Target with prayerful sit-ins (or, as we say: “pray-ins”). Groups have written new protest songs, and rewritten Christmas carols and hymns with prophetic words that speak to this moment. Christians who have never protested before are out in the streets – even in sub-zero weather.
There are countless stories of moral courage from small towns to big cities. Let me just share one story from Springfield, Ohio. You may remember when Vice President JD Vance repeated the sickening, racist trope about Haitians eating pets (and never apologised, and now the whole administration has doubled-down threatening to end the Temporary Protected Status and deport thousands of residents, many of whom are legally here). What you might not know is the backdrop to those venomous words was a car accident. A minivan driven by a Haitian immigrant hit a school bus, and an eleven-year-old boy named Aiden Clark was killed. It was tragic. The driver was not drinking or on drugs. It was just a horrible accident. That accident is what prompted those racist remarks from our leaders. The ripples of hatred and racism became so harmful that the family of the eleven-year-old went public. On top of losing their son, in the midst of their grief – they had to tell our President and Vice President not to use their son’s death as an opportunity to spread their racism. These are the words of Mr. Clark: “Using Aiden as a political tool is, to say the least, reprehensible for any political purpose… This needs to stop now.”
And the Christians in Springfield rose up. As things escalated and the Trump movement refused to apologise, there were hundreds of bomb threats and death threats. White supremacist groups showed up on the streets of Springfield. Schools and churches had to shut down. Hospitals were on lockdown. I know all this because one of my close friends is a pastor there in Springfield – witnessing what he would say and I would agree is a Holy Spirit revival of sorts. Hundreds of Christians came out of the woodwork to stand with Haitian neighbours and support their restaurants and businesses. After all, nearly a third of the city’s population of around 50,000 is Haitian and those who aren’t know the gift and dignity of their Haitian neighbours. At one recent gathering, Pastor Carl told me they were hoping a couple hundred people would show up for a service that was part prayer and part mobilising to make sure immigrant neighbours are safe. Over 1,200 people showed up. So many that the fire marshal had to escort several hundred people outside. And that was just the beginning. They are raising thousands of dollars that is going directly to neighbours who have suffered so deeply. They are fighting through the courts, challenging the removal of Temporary Protected Status, and just won a major victory.
In protests we often chant the words “This is what democracy looks like… this is what democracy sounds like.” And I would add, in reference to Springfield and the holy uprising happening all over the US: This is what Christianity looks like. This is what Christianity sounds like. Expounding on Jesus’ metaphor that we are to be light in the darkness, my pal Stanley Hauerwas says that Christians are meant to be like air fresheners in the toilet. That’s a good image for us right now. We need to leave off the fragrance of Jesus, even amid the stench of this presidential administration.
It’s happening. Pastors and faith-based nonprofits are handing out ‘Know your rights’ cards in multiple languages with phone numbers people can call if they are in crisis. One of our teenagers has a 3D printer and started making whistles (very loud whistles) with the words “NO ICE” on them, which have been instrumental in many communities to warn folks when ICE is present. There are emergency response teams in many US cities trained to show up when ICE raids happen, even utilising apps that send an rapid response alert out like when there is a missing child. New ideas surface almost daily. I just heard that an entire neighbourhood is using the key-fobs for their cars to set off all the car alarms when ICE comes, which can be done without leaving the home.
Ordinary people drive other people’s kids to school or stand watch outside Spanish-speaking services that are under the threat of ICE. One of my friends in Minneapolis is a guardian for a child in the event his parents are taken. It’s all part of a massive underground network of solidarity and compassion.
In our neighbourhood, we’ve posted signs that read: “No matter where you are from, we’re glad you’re our neighbour”, in multiple languages, including Arabic. One of our neighbours was moved to tears as she read it. Simple, beautiful ways we can resist the forces of fear and intimidation. One church in Chicago hung a giant banner on their historic cathedral that said: “Of course we welcome immigrants… we’re Christians.”
Many churches have had federal agents show up at their food banks and soup kitchens, intimidating families as they come to receive things in a space they have always been able to see as safe, warm, and loving. One congregation has a sign saying “Welcome home.” These spaces are now being threatened to the point that some of the largest denominations in the US and some of our most powerful institutions are suing the federal government for violating religious freedom. I am proud to be a part of it all. To riff off my brother Rev. Otis Moss III in Chicago, Christ has called us to be the “salt of the earth” – and SALT MELTS ICE.
In Trenton where there are ICE raids every few days, churches now alert neighbours that ICE is present by tolling their church bells, and opening the doors of their sanctuaries to create ICE-free zones on church grounds. The US has historically offered special protection for religious spaces because of the Constitutional “freedom of religion”. Christians have even made the case in the highest courts that not allowing us to show hospitality to immigrant families regardless of their documentation is a violation of our religious freedom. Offering food and water to immigrants on the southern border as a new type of underground railroad now faces new threats of being punished as “conspiracy” or “sedition”, becoming a crime potentially punishable by death in the US. But that doesn’t intimidate a people who worship a Saviour who was executed by the state and rose from the dead. Hallelujah. We have 2,000 years of experience subverting empires and speaking truth to power.
Of course, it may be obvious but is still worth emphasising that Christians are not the only people rising up for the sake of love and compassion in the US. People of all faiths and people who aren’t religious at all but are compelled by their heart and conscience, are all showing up together in stunning new ways. It is heartening to see Jewish rabbis emphasising the clear parallels of fascists and Nazis in Hitler’s Germany. And it is amazing to see interfaith services harmonising without homogenising, pulling out the best of their traditions into a beautiful symphony of faithful resistance. After all, every religion has been twisted by people looking to justify their violence, hide their hatred, and camouflage their bigotry. One of my mentors said, “All you have to do is twist the cross and you get a swastika.” There are lots of people twisting the cross, and distorting the Bible. No-one kills with more passion than someone who is convinced God is on their side. But no-one loves more passionately either – as Christ himself said: Greater love has no one than this: to lay down their life for another.
I am grateful for those who have laid down their lives trying to protect their immigrant neighbours – for Renee Good and for Alex Pretti, and the countless others who are putting their lives on the line and putting their bodies in the way. I am proud to now hear Bishops and Archbishops urge their congregants to take greater risks and even be prepared to die.
These words of New Hampshire Episcopal Bishop Rob Hirschfeld went viral as he told clergy to be willing to pay the price of faithful love: “I’ve asked them to get their affairs in order to make sure they have their wills written because it may be that now is no longer the time for statements, but for us with our bodies to stand between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable.”
For a long time, I have resonated with Gandhi’s response when someone asked him about Christianity. He basically said, I love Jesus. I just wish the Christians acted more like him. His words still ring true. It certainly must grieve the heart of God to see so many people claim to be Christian but defend such un-Christlike things. And yet. And yet – the best critique of bad religion is to practice good religion. Just because there is a lot of bad music doesn’t mean we stop singing or give up on all music. Maybe it just means we need to sing a better song… and sing a little louder.
Please pray for us as we continue to try to sing in the belly of the American empire. No matter what the cost.
Shane Claiborne is an author, a speaker, an activist and organiser. He founded The Simple Way in Philadelphia and heads up Red Letter Christians. He is the author of The Irresistible Revolution and Jesus for President.
Editor’s Note: Previously published in Shibboleth on April 10, 2026. Melting ICE with salt and light – Shane Claiborne – Shibboleth. Shared here with permission.
