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Over the weekend, protests broke out at airports and cities across the country against President Trump’s executive order banning the entry of citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries. While critics are using legal and moral arguments to try and overturn the order, two scholars of immigration policy say U.S. history shows that excluding immigrants based on nationality is bad foreign policy and “risks straining or losing important diplomatic ties and fragile relationships.”
So what does the Bible say about what it means to welcome strangers? Religion professor Matthew Schmalz argues that both the Old and New Testaments are unambiguous: they must be treated with dignity and hospitality.
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A rally against President Donald Trump’s order that restricts travel to the U.S.
AP Photo/Steven Senne
David FitzGerald, University of California, San Diego; David Cook Martín, Grinnell College
This isn't the first time the US has banned people based on nationality. History shows these exclusions have put our national security at risk and caused rifts with foreign allies.
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Politics + Society
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Mathew Schmalz, College of the Holy Cross
A scholar quotes Biblical passages to show how the text affirms – strongly and unequivocally – the obligation to treat strangers with dignity and hospitality.
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Adil Najam, Boston University
Immigrants have contributed to America's great success at the Nobel. Of the 350 Nobel winners from the United States, more than 100 have been immigrants.
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Leigh E. Schmidt, Washington University in St Louis
Distrust of the irreligious has been commonplace in the American political discourse from the founding.
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Science + Technology
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William Messner, Tufts University
Together, three recent events mark a crucial turning point in the development of autonomous cars: They are both safer and more advanced than ever before.
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Health + Medicine
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Lacey Wallace, Pennsylvania State University
American attitudes toward smart guns are complex and do not necessarily follow the patterns we might expect.
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Economy + Business
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George B. Cunningham, Texas A&M University
Conservative lawmakers are proposing 'bathroom bills' and other measures that discriminate against LGBT individuals. Beyond the moral concerns, there are large economic costs as well.
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Benjamin Selwyn, University of Sussex
In work poverty is a sign the icy tide of capitalism is now lapping at our ankles in the global north.
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Environment + Energy
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Yoshitaka Ota, University of British Columbia; Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor, University of British Columbia
Coastal indigenous peoples consume nearly four times more seafood per capita than the world average and have strong cultural ties to the sea. Global ocean policies should preserve these connections.
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