Religious institutions have been under fire from the progressive community for sometime now due to the rapacious bloodlust of the religious right. The latest abomination was Dobson and many others charge to stop the Hate Crimes legislation from going forward. Today there is a refreshing story about churches around the country that are beginning to protect those that are less fortunate. That group is highly stigmatized because they are considered 'illegal immigrants.'
From The New York Times:
Recalling a movement that challenged United States policy in Central America in the 1980s, several religious congregations in New York and other cities will announce a campaign Wednesday to provide sanctuary to illegal immigrants who face deportation.
As of Tuesday, the organizers of what is being called the New Sanctuary Movement said that five churches in New York City had already offered assistance to two families — one from China and one from Haiti — and would provide them with shelter if the federal government moved to enforce the deportation orders filed against them.
“We’re launching now because we’re fed up with detentions, deportations and raids,” said the Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper, the senior minister of Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village. “We felt it was not morally possible to remain silent.”
Morality has been twisted by many on the right to protect the privileged few. Morality to them means keeping things neat and orderly for the white majority and to persecute minority groups, whether they be of another ethnicity or sexual orientation. Now that church groups are coming out to protect immigrants that face deportation, the church (or at least part of it) can be seen in their true calling. That is to protect those that are less fortunate and who need a helping hand.
While the government may be cracking down on 'illegals' it is still a moral issue and an American issue to give shelter to those that want to have a better life in America. That is the reason they came to this country much like the ancestors of those that are here today. It is so easy to forget where we came from and try to protect an illusion that new immigrants are out to get us. Many leaders on the right try to play on basic human nature and the instinctual fear to survive that we are genetically programmed with. Thankfully there are people that can see past that and realize that we are all in this together. That is what has made America the great place it is known as and will continue to be.
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