An Open Letter to JD Vance

Dr. Mr. Vance,

Your recent appearance at the Christian nationalist revival tour of Lance Wallnau was comical at best. In your attempt to make a “theological” defense of the GOP’s controversial immigration policies, you demonstrated your complete lack of knowledge regarding sacred scripture.

I offer these comments for your remedial education. In the event that you would like to be educated in a way that has scholarly integrity, I offer to tutor you in both Old and New Testament history, tradition and theology.

First, you posit that, from a Christian perspective one owes the strongest duty to one’s family. I refer you to Matthew 12:46-50. In this pericope Jesus is speaking to the crowds and is interrupted by someone telling him that his mother and his brothers want to speak with him. “Jesus replied, ‘Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?’ And pointing to his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.’”

From this scripture it is clear that Jesus’ understanding of family is not primarily about biology but about discipleship. He claims as family those who are united in striving for peace, justice and hastening the realm of God on earth. In that realm, all will have enough, there will be no war, no greed, no hunger, no suffering.

Your immigration policies are rooted in promulgating human suffering. Deporting individuals who have lived in the US for years to countries where they will face certain death and privation is not a policy, it is a debacle. Yes, our immigration system is broken, but what you propose will visit untold pain on millions of people. It is inhuman and deplorable. How you can claim this is consistent with the Judeo-Christian tradition shows the depth of your ignorance and lack of compassion.

Second, in Jeremiah 29 the prophet writes to the Israelites who are exiled in Babylon after the fall of Jerusalem.

“These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent  from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. This was after King Jeroniah, and the queen mother, the court officials, the leaders of  Judah and Jerusalem, the artisans, and the smiths had departed  from Jerusalem. The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah son of  Shaphan and Geramiah son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of  Judah sent to Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. It said,  ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles  whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Build houses  and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take  wives and have sons and daughters, take wives for your sons,  and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and  daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare  of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on  its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.’”

Let me break this down into the simplest of terms so you can understand. The Israelites were exiled to Babylon. Rather than live as an isolated enclave they were encouraged to settle there and work for the welfare of the city to which they were exiled. Surely the immigrants in our midst have worked for the welfare of the American people. They pick our produce, clean our schools and hospitals and hotels. They work in the slaughterhouses that produce our meat and poultry. They often work at the most menial jobs for minimum wage so that we can enjoy our bounteous lifestyle.

I doubt there are many Americans that lament that they were vegetable pickers before the immigrants came.

Immigrants work for the well being of this country in countless ways. They have taken seriously the prophetic words of Jeremiah to seek the welfare of the place where they live. They know that in seeking the welfare of the United States they are also seeking their own welfare.

To see mass deportation as an “immigration policy” is ludicrous. It would be disastrous for our economy, for our food infrastructure and for our communities. We are a nation of immigrants. Unless one is a Native American, they are an immigrant. There are no other options. What you are proposing is making America white again. There is nothing Christian about that.

I suggest that you spend some time learning American history as well as biblical history and theology. It will go a long way toward helping you sound less like the hillbilly you are, though I fear this statement will be seen as an insult to anyone who considers themselves to be a hillbilly.