I know what is it like to be viewed with suspicion. I know the fear of having police stop me and demand my papers, and the terrors that descended upon me when those same police told me that my papers were no good, despite the fact that they were. I know what it means to be somewhere illegally, even though it was the right thing to do.
“A seemingly simple phrase like, ‘The peace of the Lord be with you,’ turns into a major debate. We end up having to go back to the original texts, some of which are in Hebrew, to try to decipher exactly what the person writing that meant.”
Every major Christian denomination in the State of Arizona has expressed deep concern regarding the new law enacted which makes it a state crime to be in the state without proper documentation. But while everyone agrees that the law is troubling because of fears of how it will be enforced, there are significant differences between denominations about how to proceed next.
In a TheCommunity.com essay on Arizona’s new immigration law former Archbishop Desmond Tutu speaks about parallels in apartheid South Africa. He also says ” I
As part of the Good Friday observances yesterday, the Diocese of Arizona and the Presbyterian Church in Arizona walked the stations of the cross along
Arizona is poised to pass new laws which would make undocumented immigrants and their children guilty of trespassing. The law would require that all law enforcement agents must always check the citizenship status of anyone they think might be in the US illegally. Roman Catholic, Methodist and Episcopal clergy have spoken out in opposition.
Even before the Haiti earthquake, the Gallup organization found that 700 million people, or about 16% of the worlds adults, desires to migrate to another country permanently if they had the chance.
What I had seen as elegant and understated, they saw as effectively communicating a message of restrained grief; not the exuberant celebration of joyful transformed lives that Dia de los Muertos proclaims. So, with my “permission” the ladies set to making it a proper altar.
Republican Sen. Russell Pearce referred to an Episcopal deacon and her colleagues as “antichrists” when they sought to voice their opposition to a bill designed to get local law enforcement to act on federal immigration laws.
The Catholic Review Online reports on the hopes and concerns of those working for immigration reform. In the wake of postponement of a meeting with