The Daily Gamecock

Opinion: The Bible supports human rights, not Sessions

Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks during a Medal of Valor ceremony in the East Room of the White House, Feb. 20, 2018, in Washington, D.C. (Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/TNS)
Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks during a Medal of Valor ceremony in the East Room of the White House, Feb. 20, 2018, in Washington, D.C. (Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/TNS)

The Trump administration’s handling of this month’s immigration scandal involving detaining children and separating them from their parents was nothing short of abysmal. Never mind that the executive order ending the practice spelled the word “separation” wrong, the president also changed his position on the topic fourteen times before signing the executive order that he originally denied was possible. 

Along the way, members of the president’s cabinet have tried to defend separating children at the border, including an especially strange comment made by Jeff Sessions that the practice was endorsed in the Bible.

The most obvious way this argument is refuted is that the Bible is not a document that holds any real statutory power in the United States. Sure, our country is made up of a Christian majority, but is also represented by a plurality of many other world religions. A Christian supermajority in America would still not necessarily mean the Bible should be used as some legal guide, as the establishment clause of the First Amendment is very clear that the U.S. does not endorse one religion over another. 

Judging from countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran nations governed by Christianity’s cousin living in an authoritarian Christian state doesn’t seem like very much fun, even if it was a realized dream. 

Sessions specifically cited Romans 13:1, which states “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God.” Essentially, the attorney general wants every Christian in America to submit to the policy decisions of this administration. Interesting that the unchanging word of God now commands us to support this administration that works to undo everything the last administration accomplished. 

This of course flies in the face of other biblical passages when considered in the context of the immigration scandal. The famous Golden Rule, Matthew 7:12, thought to be the pinnacle of philosophy in the Christian religion, states to “do to others what you would have them do to you.” Not that I would disdain Jeff Sessions or anyone else associated with the President locked in a cell for criminal wrongdoing.

Matthew 12:22 tells us that we will be judged by how we treat the least of us. Now there is some biblical inspiration America could really use!

It would also be foolish to ignore the implications of Romans 13:1 in terms of authoritarian practices. Democracy is much less useful if everyone merely accepts that people in charge were put on their pedestals by a divine authority and therefore are above questioning. As useful as the idea is to Jeff Sessions, I would go as far as to say that the passage in Romans is the antithesis to the American way rather than a reinforcement to it.  


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