Thread: Moral Dillema: Immigration law poses trouble for churches

Moral Dillema: Immigration law poses trouble for churches


Updated: 6/28 10:25 pm
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) - Many churches are concerned that Alabama's new immigration law could create legal hurdles to carrying out their mission activities.

"This isn't a political issue for us. It's not an economic issue. It's a religious issue," said Matt Lacey of Highlands United Methodist Church. "After the bill was signed into law a lot of ministers got together and said there are certain elements of this law which we felt were going against the gospel."

Pastor R. G. Lyons of the Church Without Walls says there are large immigrant congregations throughout the state. The new immigration law defines some of their mission work as criminal activity.

"It criminalizes providing transportation, assisting them, harboring them in any way. Well, many of our churches do things like provide food to people, clothing shelter, transportation to and from jobs to and from places where they need to go. And we don't check people's immigration status before we do that. you know we believe that we're called to serve everybody and so we don't want our churches and people within our churches to have to choose between obeying the law and being in ministry," said Lyons.

From the opposite perspective, some feel that the amount of debate sparked by the bill is a positive development.

"And it brings about me as a citizen to be more vocal as well as more informed," said Kenneth King.



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[quote]The Community Church Without Walls
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Members of the Church Join in Fellowship

The Community Church Without Walls is a network of small house churches located in the West End community of Birmingham. Reverend R.G. Lyons serves as pastor of The Community Church Without Walls and its house ministries. “We believe that church should be a place where we are friends with each other, where we can encourage one another and hold each other accountable, and where all Christian disciples assume leadership rolesâ€

An Open Letter to Governor Robert Bentley, Senator Scott Beason, and Representative Micky Hammon


As Patsy and I have traveled about the Conference to witness the work of our churches in storm recovery many pastors have told us of their frustration that Spanish-speaking friends in the hard hit areas have been reluctant to take help from the church because they were afraid of possible reprisals from the state.

We thought this sad and hoped their fears were unfounded.

Then our state passed the meanest immigrant legislation bill in the nation.

The bill is an embarrassment to our state and does not represent the spirit of hospitality of our churches.

While I'm confident that the bill will be overturned I am proud that a number of our Methodists - those committed to evangelism and mission - are speaking up in the name of Christ to oppose this ill conceived bill that does nothing to help our state and does great harm to our sisters and brothers.
Many of our clergy plan to sign the following letter that will be sent to the governor, legislators and local newspapers. For clergy to add their signature to the letter, please email Rev. RG Lyons at rglyons@gmail.com with your name and church affiliation. We also invite all United Methodists to attend an ecumenical prayer vigil on June 25 at 6:30PM at Linn Park in downtown Birmingham. At the vigil we will pray for those affected by this new law as well as voice our opposition. In the coming months, we will also call for open dialogue concerning this law, our faith, and its implications. For information on these opportunities, please check the conference website soon.



http://northalabamaumc.org/blogs/detail/574