More Than 600 Members of Jeff Sessions’ Church Accuse Him of ‘Child Abuse’

Six hundred and forty members of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ church, the United Methodists, are seeking church law charges against him for alleged “child abuse” and a bevy of other improprieties, CBS News reports Tuesday. The Methodists have been publicly critical of Trump’s policies, but CBS reports that Sessions’ use of the Bible to defend the administration’s zero-tolerance policy was the last straw. A church leader stated this weekend that “The Christ we follow would have no part in ripping children from their mothers’ arms or shunning those fleeing violence. It is unimaginable that faith leaders even have to say that these policies are antithetical to the teachings of Christ.” In the Monday statement, members accused Sessions of child abuse, immorality, and racial discrimination. “While other individuals and areas of the federal government are implicated in each of these examples, Mr. Sessions—as a long-term United Methodist in a tremendously powerful, public position—is particularly accountable to us, his church,” they wrote. Although the denomination allows the expulsion of a member following a trial, another church leader told CBS that he would much rather see Sessions “reclaim his values.”