Empathy is usually regarded as a virtue, a key to human decency and kindness. And yet, with increasing momentum, voices on the Christian right are preaching that it has become a vice.
‘I never thought I had one day to cancel Sunday worship because it is not safe for our Latino siblings to come to church. But here we are … ,’ wrote one pastor on Facebook.
Clergy are accompanying immigrants to court appointments to provide comfort and information and, in cases where their worst fears are realized, to pick up the pieces of a shattered American dream.
Mara Richards Bim, the new Justice and Advocacy Fellow at Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas, spoke about how to bridge what we talk about in church and political action.
‘A president with a true Christian agenda would be most concerned with uplifting those in our country who have been cast aside,’ said Rev. Shannon Fleck of Faithful America. ‘The most vulnerable among us are not billionaires. Those most vulnerable among us are not these
This issue of A Public Witness looks behind the unmarked cars to see the chilling impact of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids on pastors, churches, and communities.
The plaintiffs include five regional synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and three regional Quaker groups. Three denominations are also listed: American Baptist Churches USA, Alliance of Baptists, and Metropolitan Community Churches.
Newly strained finances are just one reality that Latino immigrant churches are adjusting to as the Trump administration accelerates a promised mass deportation campaign and other aggressive changes to immigration policy.