The ‘White Lie’ Behind Attacks on Immigrants, DEI, and Refugees (Rewind)
Trump’s prioritizing of White “refugees” and the racial profiling of immigrants isn’t just politics, it is a spiritual test.
Amid reports that the Trump administration plans to deprioritizing non-White refugees in favor of White South Africans, and as evidence continues to emerge of ICE’s illegal and violent abductions in our own neighborhoods, it is easy to feel paralyzed and disheartened by it all. That is to say nothing of the ongoing purge of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives from all sectors.
But if we revisit our 2020 FM interview (👇🏾) with Chicago pastor Daniel Hill, we’ll understand that this administration’s open implementation of a hierarchy of human value isn’t just political, but also deeply spiritual.
Hill argued that white supremacy is not just a social structure, but a spiritual formation system. It functions essentially as a “rival gospel,” one that is constantly discipling us. This reality is evident in the ongoing, unashamed public emergence of White male pastors and influencers who espouse racism and cruelty as theology.
The current Republican administration is engaging in aggressive discipleship, constantly signaling from the top down who matters to God and who doesn’t.
The ‘Lie’ in Policy Form
Hill, author of White Lies and White Awake, defines the central “lie” of white supremacy as the belief that White lives are the standard of human value, and all others are deviations or threats.
When the administration attacks DEI initiatives, it is legally protecting that standard. When refugee policy explicitly preferences White South Africans — on false pretenses — it is reinforcing the narrative that whiteness is “endangered” and deserving of special protection, while Black and Brown lives are disposable.
This isn’t just politics; it is a theological claim. It is an assertion that the Imago Dei (Image of God) is hierarchical.
As Hill told FM then:
“I can’t be a faithful follower of Christ without absolutely hating white supremacy and doing everything I know how to resist, confront, and uproot the ideology.”
Moving from ‘Woke’ to ‘Resistant’
In 2020, many of us fell into the trap of thinking “being woke” (aware) was the finish line. Hill warned against this. He argued, in a sense, that awareness without resistance is just voyeurism.
The events of 2025 are exposing the difference between those who know racism is wrong and those who are spiritually formed to resist it. There are some Christians who see the dehumanizing tactics of ICE agents and simply feel terrible. Then there are others who know that what they see is an assault on the Body of Christ.
If Hill is right in his claim that “to love Jesus is to hate white supremacy,” then the response to these policies cannot be passive. Christians cannot claim to love the Creator while remaining neutral toward policies that hunt down His creation based on their skin color, accent, or perceived ethnicity.
A Liturgy of Resistance
The “white lies” interview should reminds us that we are in a battle over truth.
The administration tells a story of scarcity, difference, and fear: They’re taking your jobs, eating your pets, and jumping ahead of you at the E.R.
Christians are called to tell a better story. A Jesus story. A true story. A story where the refugee is Jesus in disguise (Matthew 2), where the wall of hostility is broken down (Ephesians 2), and where our security comes from God, not from a white ethnostate.
If Hill is right — if loving Jesus requires hating white supremacy — then this moment demands practices of resistance: prayer that forms courage, worship that unmasks idols, solidarity that costs something, and public witness that refuses to be silent.
We are being discipled daily. The only question is: by whom?
With the threat of a third Trump term looming — whether through strong-arm tactics or subterfuge — being better voters is not the goal; we need better worshippers. We need Christians whose worship of Jesus is so authentic that they cannot stomach the idol of white supremacy, no matter how legally it is packaged.
Read the full archive interview with Daniel Hill here 🔒.
Editor’s note: This article was drafted with the assistance of AI and edited by a human for accuracy, clarity, and context.