Evangelical Leaders vs. The Tea Party?

Just read a recent article on faith groups’ stance on immigration reform.  I’d assumed they were against immigration reform because I always equated evangelicals with right-wing conservatism.  I did not give them enough credit.  I believe that generally treating immigrants kindly and with compassion, illegal or otherwise, is what Jesus would do.   This would require reforming our immigration laws as the Christian leaders that were quoted in the article rightfully point out.  The Tea Party is vehemently opposed to immigration reform and recent polls have found that 80% of them self-identify as Christian.

While researching the relationship of Christians and the Tea Party for this post, I discovered that evangelical leaders actually do not like the Tea Party very much and especially do not like being associated with it.  The social Darwinism basis of libertarianism has always struck me as incompatible with basic Christian tenets of compassion and charity.  The Tea Party is supposedly libertarian but libertarian ideals seem to clash with their moralistic stance on same-sex marriage and a woman’s right to choose.

Sometimes we need to be reminded that these monolithic blocks that we try to cram ourselves into are really quite fragmented and overlap.  Still, if you stand for individual freedoms and follow the basic Christian tenets of compassion and charity then I don’t see how you can be a member of the Tea Party.