Dr. Russell Moore said Friday that a Bible verse Attorney General Jeff Sessions quoted to justify separating illegal immigrant children from their parents at the southern U.S. border "does not affirm what is going on in the status quo."
"I do think it is important to say that Romans:13 does not affirm what is going on in the status quo," Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, told Wolf Blitzer on CNN.
"I think it is a warning to us to assure that we do right to these migrant children.
"Authorities are accountable to God," he added. "In the United States of America, the people are the ultimate authority.
"When we see things that are a shock to our conscience, we ought to be the people who say this isn't right and we can't see that as images on a television screen.
"This is our responsibility as the people."
Sessions, in a speech Thursday in Indiana, quoted Romans:13 from the New Testament to justify the Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" policy on immigration enforcement, including separating illegal children from their parents at the border.
"I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans:13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order," Sessions said.
"Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves.
"Consistent, fair application of law is in itself a good and moral thing and that protects the weak, it protects the lawful," Sessions said. "Our policies that can result in short-term separation of families are not unusual or unjustified."
However, Moore told Blitzer: "Romans:13 does not mean any law of government is a good law or just law.
"It means the governing authorities are put into place for a reason.
"And the reason is that to commend that which is good and punish that which is evil," he said.
"It is hard to imagine children clinging to their parents in a difficult time is evil.
"I think, surely as Americans, we can do better than this when it comes to vulnerable children who need their parents," Moore said.
"If we are pro-family, we need to recognize this."
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