( CNN ) -- If you think all conservatives support a deportation-only approach to immigration , think again . Last week , hundreds of conservative evangelicals gathered in Alabama to engage in a reasonable , respectful discourse on immigration . You read that right . Less than a year after Alabama enacted the strictest immigration law in the land , evangelical students , pastors and national faith leaders gathered at Samford University in Birmingham for `` a Christ-centered conversation on immigration '' called the G92 South Immigration Conference . Following the example of Cedarville University 's inaugural G92 gathering last fall in Ohio , evangelical Christians gathered in Birmingham to discuss immigration through the prism of the Bible . Instead of listening to partisan sound bites , participants looked to the word of God -- specifically the 92 references to `` ger , '' the word for `` stranger , '' in the Old Testament alone . Calls for humanity and compassion came from national and local evangelicals who recognize the law 's devastating effects . Dr. Richard Land , president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission , said , `` As Christians , we have a responsibility to obey the rule of law , not to enforce the law . And , as citizens of heaven , we also have a responsibility to feed those who are hungry without asking them for [ their ] immigration status . '' He is right . Policymakers ' misguided race to the bottom on immigration has also affected faith leaders ' ability to minister to all of God 's children , regardless of immigration status . And , the economic impact to the state has been dramatic . The Alabama law , HB56 , resulted in some crops rotting on the vine and police arresting a visiting executive of a multinational car manufacturer with a new plant in the state . Now , economists forecast that the law will cost the Alabama economy billions of dollars . Closing the event , Dr. Michael Wesley Sr. , of the Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Birmingham , reflected on the nation 's ongoing struggle for civil rights : `` America is a land of opportunity . And , if done correctly , it can be a land of opportunity for all of God 's children . '' A fundamental shift is occurring among conservatives toward a new consensus on immigrants and America . These are the early steps in a march by Americans of all political stripes fed up with partisan attacks on immigrants and immigration -- a groundswell ready and willing to skewer political extremism from either side of the aisle . The conference in Alabama was a quest for spiritual guidance to forge a path forward on immigration reform . Contrast that with a meeting of another group of conservatives , about 1,500 miles to the west . Ahead of this week 's primaries in Arizona and Michigan , the four Republican candidates for president `` debated '' immigration by choosing the same path : political expedience and division over practical , humane immigration solutions . In Mesa , Arizona , around the birthplace of that state 's own anti-immigrant law , SB1070 , the candidates were quick to endorse the family-separating tactics of Sheriff Joe Arpaio and call for the building of ( double ) walls at our borders . The candidates ' only hint of compassion was Rick Santorum 's suggestion that he would not require individual homeowners to verify the legal status of their domestic help . In other words , undocumented immigrants can care for our children , do our laundry and mow our lawns , but we will do nothing to keep their families together or provide a way for them to emerge from the shadows . Ignoring the economic and social value of immigrants and immigration to our nation , the GOP candidates ' strategy is to tap into the fear and unease of our constantly changing society . Rather than work toward a political consensus on immigrants and America , they would rather implement unjust immigration laws that separate families , cost tens of billions of dollars every year and undermine American workers by pushing immigrants further underground . The Republican candidates for president are stuck in reverse . Instead of treating immigration like other important conservative issues and actively seeking to change the law , they trumpet fantasies such as self-deportation and fail to lead America forward . Their race to the margins runs the risk of pushing conservative Americans away . They 're missing an opportunity , as the events in Ohio and Alabama make clear . Times are changing . Americans want reasonable , humane solutions for our nation 's immigration system . It is time the GOP offered them . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ali Noorani .
Evangelical students , pastors , faith leaders gathered for conference on immigration . Ali Noorani says discourse was reasonable and respectful . Leaders saw responsibility to feed the hungry without regard to immigration status , he says . Noorani : " The issue of illegal immigrants is not a partisan one in this country.