It's disrespectful.
That's Jesus on the right.
Our Lord would be so pleased.
Posted on 12/25/2007 4:26:45 AM PST by stan_sipple
He doesn't speak Spanish and has no idea what America should do about illegal immigration, but Rev. Larry Kreps knows he's now on a list somewhere of people willing to help illegal immigrants in a time of crisis.
It started out small enough. Months ago, a member of Kreps' suburban Ohio congregation was looking for a place where local Hispanics could meet, and Kreps offered some space at John Wesley United Methodist Church. A Sunday school lesson on immigration followed in August.
Days later, with just a phone call for warning, dozens of desperate immigrants fleeing a massive raid on a nearby poultry plant turned up on the church's doorstep, seeking sanctuary.
Kreps let them in, and members of his overwhelmingly white congregation sprang into action. Some brought food, some set up space in the gym and a choir room for the immigrants to sleep.
"Someone slipped me $100 to buy stuff," Kreps recalled as he stood in the now-quiet church kitchen where the meals were prepared. It was a tense night as scared families and Kreps himself worried police or federal agents might come knocking.
"I wasn't real clear legally whether authorities could come into a place of worship," he said. "But we saw it as 'What would Jesus do?' in the simplest way -- that you help first and you ask questions later."
But helping illegal immigrants has become an unpopular business in America. On the presidential campaign trail, Republican and Democratic candidates alike have backed down from any previous support for illegal immigrants, and ordinary Americans are treading just as carefully in the face of a growing backlash against the 12 million people here illegally.
One-third of Americans want to deprive illegal immigrants of social services, including schooling and emergency health care, a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Poll showed this month.
DIVIDED CONGREGATION
The political stalemate over immigration in America and stepped-up raids to deport undocumented workers has pushed the everyday crisis of illegal immigration into the hands of people like Kreps.
Susan Woodward, 54, helped feed the scared families who stayed at John Wesley church for two days. But she knows not everyone in the congregation thought the church should be helping people they view as illegals. As a result, outreach then and in the days since has been done quietly.
"It's tricky. Things are being done unobtrusively, gently. The people who feel strong about giving support are doing it, but not drawing attention because they don't want to create more conflict for the people they are trying to help."
Sylvia Castellanos, who works for the Coalition for the Rights and Dignity of Immigrants, is slowly working her way through churches in Ohio, offering information sessions for congregations about the plight of illegal immigrants.
She said church leaders so far have all welcomed the dialogue, but churchgoers who attend the sessions are not always as inviting.
"We live in this area which is very conservative and people who come to these events sometimes follow stereotypes," Castellanos said. "But it is good for them to come with their concerns, to have that dialogue."
SHOULD BE IN JAIL
Dialogue can be difficult at First United Methodist Church in Hamilton, Ohio. Just seven miles from John Wesley, First United is within the border of Butler County, home to the poultry plant that was raided.
Debate over immigration has raged in Butler County, where an influx of immigrants has brought Mexican grocery stores and bakeries. Opponents say Hispanics bring crime, put strains on schools or hospitals, and take American jobs.
The First United congregation is conflicted.
"I would say we're fairly evenly split," said Rev. Kenn Barton. "We have some people who see it in terms of legality ... 'They're illegal so we can't have them in our church. They don't have to come to worship because they should be in jail, or back in their country."'
Barton is trying to broker change through education and a focus on God's love, but treads carefully. Even discussing the issue is sensitive, and Barton apologizes when members of his congregation opposed to illegal immigration refuse to discuss it with an outsider.
"It's tough," he said. "I tend to try to go slow."
John Wesley pastor Kreps said he, too, is still struggling to reconcile all the issues around illegal immigration as he waits for more scared families to show up on his doorstep. In the meantime, he's thinking about another long-ago family struggling to find shelter.
"Of course we're coming into Christmas and the question: 'Is there room at the inn?'," Kreps said. "I'd rather be someone who makes room somewhere."
Easy enough. If they’re hungry, feed them-—but also call ICE.
real objective reporting here: “Opponents say Hispanics bring crime, put strains on schools or hospitals, and take American jobs.”
First, He's tell them that He does not appreciate 70% of them naming their kids "Jesus".
Then He'd call the authorities.
Apologizes?!? The good Rev. is apologizing for his congregation who oppose criminal activites? What a slap in his members’ faces. They need to send him packing.
The word Jesus is the Latin form of the Greek Iesous, which in turn is the transliteration of the Hebrew Jeshua, or Joshua.
You gonna get after the parents who named their kid Joshua?
And a Merry Christmas to you.
It's disrespectful.
That's Jesus on the right.
Our Lord would be so pleased.
Somehow for the MSM religion justifies illegal immigration but not life and morality issues
You noticed that did you? A lot of preachers are like cops, the law was written for someone else.
At the same time they'll never have a chance to do so because our immigration capacity is overloaded with illegal aliens.
These church people had a choice of dong right and could work for an enforceable system for LEGAL immigration, but they decided they'd rather assist line-jumpers and illegal aliens.
I tell you this "WWJD" is no more valid a way of figuring out the moral thing to do than the "WWMD" (what would mohammad do) the Moslems came up with a thousand years ago.
The name "Jesus" is not disrespectful.
It would make as much sense if you faulted all the people named "Emmanuel" or "Manuel" or the girls named "Christine" or "Christina" or all the many schools named for Christ.
No criticism of the illegals though, huh?
My objection was twofold:
(1) there's nothing wrong with naming a child in honor of Jesus (0r Christ), which is commonly done in many cultures (Isa Indonesian and Malay, Hesus Cebuano, Yeshua or Joshua in Hebrew) and it's ignorant to say the Spanish should not.
(2) It's disgraceful to post obscene pictures on Christmas Day. You should be ashamed.
As for illegals: well, they're illegal. They should go home. As I've said many times before.
I was unaware we had a problem with illegals from Spain.
As for illegals: well, they're illegal. They should go home.
To Spain?
I was thinking more of the illegal Mexicans, actually.
But I think you knew that.
ping
I noticed that, too. The reporter purposely tries to give the impression that the anti-illegal immigration church members are mean, unreasonable prigs. Typical.
In other words, they're sneaking around helping criminals because they don't want to drive away the people who are the financial support of the church. The people who see their lives damaged by illegal immigration.
“Help for ILLEGAL immigrants divides congregations”
A common enough occurance.
The conservative church my parents attended in north-central Oklahoma
got truly mucked up when one prominent member (a farmer) brought in
plenty of “migrant” workers and then proceeded to tap the church funds
to subsidize his little ILLEGAL enterprise.
Now they live in Mid-Missouri and some well-intended people are about
to do the same, albeit with moral intention. Except for going blind
when it comes to the BREAKING of immigration laws, maybe Identity Theft,
defrauding the IRS and state tax authorities, etc., etc.
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