PCUSA leaders criticize
Arizona immigration law
By Edward Terry, The Layman, April 30, 2010
The issue of immigration enforcement in Arizona has been a hot topic in recent days.
So hot, in fact, that it has inspired boycotts on travel to the state and public demonstrations, such as the one in Wrigley Field in Chicago on April 29 where news of the Cubs and Diamondbacks baseball game focused on “protest” rather than “pastime.”
While national and state officials are weighing the controversial issue, the leadership of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has joined the fray by stating its opposition to the border state’s new law aimed at curbing illegal immigration.
Arizona passed a law last week that allows police to check the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally. Its authors have claimed it necessary in lieu of the federal government’s failure to address the issue. Its opponents, who are quickly lining up to challenge the law in court, claim it’s unconstitutional and encourages racial profiling.
An April 29 letter to Congress signed by PCUSA Moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow, Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons and General Assembly Mission Council Executive Director Linda Valentine, echoes opposition and warns that church workers could be at risk if they help illegal immigrants. The letter also calls for comprehensive immigration reform in 2010, a theme that will come up at this summer’s General Assembly in “social witness” efforts.
“The bigotry, trauma, and fear that will result from the recent new law enacted in Arizona, SB 1070, which criminalizes those who are found ‘with’ undocumented persons and requires law enforcement officers to identify and detain such persons, serves to underscore the necessity of action at the federal level,” the letter states. “Church workers are also at the forefront of offering relief and services to immigrants, regardless of documentation status. Arizona’s new law will put at risk those workers and others who are called simply to offer the most basic of humanitarian assistance. As Christians, we cannot stand by idly while our brothers and sisters die on our borders from exposure and thirst or languish in poorly equipped detention facilities, nor should we be required to do so by any law.”
According to the Pew Research Center, Arizona is home to approximately 500,000 illegal immigrants and approximately 10 percent of the state’s workforce is labeled “undocumented.”
Though Leviticus is often cited by liberals as an outdated, misinterpreted part of the Bible during PCUSA debates on issues such as marriage and homosexuality, it’s lifted up for inspiration in the immigration statement by the denomination’s leadership.
The letter states: “In the Scriptures of Christians and Jews, we are commanded, ‘When an immigrant resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the immigrant. The immigrant who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the immigrant as yourself for you were immigrants in the land of Egypt’ (Lev. 19:33-34). The Presbyterian Church (USA) therefore supports congressional action in 2010 on comprehensive immigration reform that creates a process for undocumented immigrants in the U.S. to earn their legal status; reduces waiting periods and upholds family unity; protects workers from exploitation; and provides efficient channels of entry for new migrant workers.”
Taking a side in the immigration debate isn’t new for the PCUSA. Earlier in April the denomination’s Washington Office encouraged Presbyterians to lobby Congress for immigration reform.
That newsletter claimed that a growing number of deportations during President Barack Obama’s first year resulted in “more broken lives and more families torn apart.” The article continues, “The faith community is united on the moral imperative of this issue in a way that has not been seen in years, and we will do all it takes to see this cause move forward. At this crucial turning point, we must take the call of our scriptures seriously and prophetically for justice.”
Other immigration-related actions by the PCUSA include a challenge by the 217th General Assembly to embrace a “comprehensive approach to advocacy and welcome for immigrants” and the creation of the Presbyterians for Just Immigration network.
On Wednesday, one PCUSA pastor implied that the new law is sinful during a rally at Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson on April 28, where Christians pledged to resist it.
“It is immoral, unethical and unjust; and as faith leaders we are called to struggle against sin, to call our leaders into repentance and to all our community into action,” the Rev. Alison Harrington said in a news report on KGUN9 news.
Also interviewed by KGUN was retired PCUSA pastor, the Rev. John Fife, who was convicted of harboring refugees from El Salvador in the 1980s and served five years of probation. Fife also is a former moderator of the PCUSA General Assembly.
Reyes-Chow, who occasionally blogs on his hometown newspaper’s Web site as pastor of Mission Bay Community Church in San Francisco, shared the denomination’s stance with his local readers.
“There are some times when I think it is important for folks to know, that while many institutions that are struggling to find their way into the future sometimes focus on the wrong things, there are times when the prophet word and calling is clear,” Reyes-Chow said. “With the recent passage of immigration legislation in Arizona, the leadership of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has offered this statement, one of many that will be coming forward regarding this important issue facing the world.”
He also challenged readers to react by posting to his blog. People on both sides of the issue obliged:
- From PastorDon: “The statement by our leadership is consistent with what Presbyterians have been doing for decades if not centuries. I’m glad that people can see Christians that are not just ‘fitting in’. Don Smith”
- From AppleCore: “In their rush to condemn this law, well-meaning people are in fact backing open borders.”
- From Elemenohpee: “I really, really appreciate this about the Presbyterian Church, especially the Presbyterian Church in SF and the East Bay. You have a true sense of social justice. Thanks.”
- From NYC_Irish: “The point of the law is to make the people here illegally wary. There is a path to citizenship. It may be difficult, but then so is everything else worthwhile in life.”
- From DusBriver: “As a ‘person of faith’ why are you assuming the worst from the good and decent peace officers of Arizona? You do not sound like a religious person, you sound like a politically-motivated bigot. Read your words. Have more faith in your fellow man — and more respect for the rule of law in our great nation — the one that allows you to operate tax-free, no less. What part of ‘ILLEGAL’ do you not understand?”
- From AskSwami: “Well, what if your church members took more from the collection plate more than they put in? How long could your church last? That’s what is happening with illegal aliens, they are draining our nation. And I do not believe the scriptures are commanding us to aid and abet illegal activity, such as illegally crossing the border, otherwise Peter would not have said: Submit yourself to every ordina
nce of man for the Lord’s sake; whether it be to the king as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise (sic) of them that do well (1 Peter 2:13.). And last, our immigration system does not need reform, what needs to be reformed are the spines of some of our leaders, which have become bent and twisted in the service of everyone but the American people.”
What’s your opinion of the PCUSA’s statement? Send your thoughts to laymanletters@layman.org.