Knox County mixes religion and immigration

Politics and religion recently collided at a Knox County Commission meeting. (Photo: Getty Images)

The Tennessee legislature’s penchant for echoing Trump immigration policies is having repercussions across the state, including in my neighborhood. As January came to a close, I was able to view online a Knox County Commission meeting. Some 70 people were in attendance. Commissioner Rhonda Lee sponsored a resolution to contradict our school board and declare that Knox County was just fine with our legislature forcing or at least nudging schools to determine the immigration status of students.  

Tennessee state legislators, we must remember, are pushing bills aimed at allowing public schools to verify the citizenship or immigration status of students. The result could be to deny enrollment or charge tuition to children who are not legally present in the U.S.. These legislative shenanigans seem specifically designed to challenge the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Plyler v. Doe, which ruled states must provide free public K-12 education to all children, regardless of immigration status. 

Many in the crowd seemed ready to oppose Lee’s motion and to challenge Commissioner Andy Fox. He had planned a presentation on the biblical view on illegal immigration, one that somehow would defend the current obscene policies. Lee postponed hers 60 days to await clarity on what the legislature would do. Fox postponed for 30 days, saying he had several reasons but only specifying that members of local Young Republicans were unable to attend the meeting.

These matters, however, did come up in public forum. One speaker named Joe Finucane declared he was not a Christian, but did a masterful job of quoting Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas in favor of welcoming the stranger.

Fox exploded in a fit of non-sequitur theater, giving what likely was a preview of his workshop — a collection of Old Testament items about God ordaining the limited rights of non-Jews in Jewish tribes. Twice Commission Chair Gina Oster had to gavel for quiet as the crowd groaned and catcalled in response to Fox’s blather.

Fox, however, was undeterred.

 He bloviated about how “people bringing Christian principles into the public square” was “an implicit admission that America is a Christian country.” He obliquely cited God references in the Declaration of Independence, a go-to claim from extreme Christian nationalists. 

Of course, the governing document of our country is the U. S. Constitution, something everyone on that dais took an oath to uphold. That document has the First Amendment establishment clause. It reads “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”  Thomas Jefferson in an 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association stated that the clause means “building a wall of separation between church and State.” Further, the Constitution also has Article Six, Clause Three which requires elected officials to take an oath to support the Constitution; it further requires “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”

A nice rebuttal to all of Fox’s stale arguments, by the way, may be found in the New York Times bestseller by John Fugelsang, Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person’s Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds.

Sadly, these moments are likely to echo through succeeding meetings. Commissioner Courtney Durrett took a moment to make clear she opposed Lee’s motion as outside the commission’s bounds. Lee took exception to that as out of normal procedure. Nothing came of the clash, but may set up a dispute for a future meeting.

Commissioner Damon Rawls pointed out that all 11 commissioners and every member of the audience likely has differing opinions on every line of the Bible. Turning to Fox’s approach, Rawls said, “You’re telling them that they’re wrong, and they’re just bringing up a point of view.”

Rawls is correct that each or us finds moral clarity from a wide range of places, and moral clarity may help guide our public policy choices. Let’s hope most of our Tennessee office holders reach a place where they see shooting protesters, jailing reporters and nabbing five-year-olds in bunny hats and Spiderman backpacks (and whisking children off to dingy detention camps) as offenses to our moral fiber.