As a Christian minister, I was horrified to hear of President Donald Trump’s ban on refugees. I wrote to him and asked him to read the story of the Good Samaritan. The Samaritan that was “good” was a foreigner and was someone who had a different religious tradition.

This ban on our global neighbors is completely contradictory to Christian faith and to American values. We are a nation that seeks not to discriminate on the basis of religion or no religion.

To be a Christian is to love God with one’s whole being and to love one’s neighbor as one’s very self. Our neighbors extend to those who are different from us.

In a short time this administration has shredded our deepest values: “Give us the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” The pain and repercussions in the lives of our families and children in Maine and across the world are real.

Thankfully, we are also a nation of people committed to equality, hope, compassion, and justice.

The Rev. Allison C. G. Smith

United Church of Christ

Harpswell