make-em pay PROPERTY TAXES!!!then see how long they want to play htis game.
Posted on 04/26/2008 7:17:16 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
FORT WORTH - Churches must continue to shelter illegal immigrants although they may face legal repercussions, some Methodist ministers said Friday.
They said the new sanctuary movement, in which churches of various denominations nationwide provide refuge to illegal immigrants, is an important act of civil disobedience that challenges laws many consider unjust.
"The underground railroad would help take people to freedom. Well now, this new sanctuary movement is all about helping people find freedom and find hope for those who are enslaved by our current laws," said the Rev. Mary Ann Swenson, bishop of the California-Pacific Annual Conference.
The ministers spoke at a news conference organized by the United Methodist Church's immigration task force, which is presenting more comprehensive church legislation on immigration policy during a 10-day general conference in Fort Worth that ends next week.
The United Methodist Church allows but does not require churches to house illegal immigrants.
The new sanctuary movement, which organized last year, stems from a broader movement in the 1980s after some congregations provided help to thousands of refugees fleeing human rights violations in Central America, according to several involved groups.
Some of the ministers say the new sanctuary movement is important because like slaves, immigrants have been unable to fight for their own rights.
"The civil rights movement was led by African-Americans; the women's movement was led by women; the labor movement was led by workers," said the Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of Chicago's Adalberto United Methodist Church. "Sanctuary was really just a way so that people could speak for themselves."
Coleman's church has been at the forefront of the issue. A woman stayed there for a year in defiance of a deportation order until she left to visit Los Angeles last year and was deported to Mexico.
The church did not participate in the movement as an act of defiance but as a way to help families who otherwise would be torn apart by deportation, Coleman said.
"Homeland Security is free to come into our church at any time, as they have made clear; we offer no resistance except our prayers," he said Friday. "We were then and are ready now to accept the consequences of our actions."
The Rev. David Farley, pastor of Echo Park United Methodist Church in Los Angeles, said his church also has provided shelter for illegal immigrants and their families.
"This not some immigration problem - this is a humanitarian crisis of tremendous proportions," Farley said. "This is a moral outrage. And I think it is an affront to God to criminalize and dehumanize and terrorize those of our fellow human beings who simply ask to be able to both provide for their families and live with their families."
If the Methodists don't start cleaning their own house I think I'll find some reasons why all the local congregations near me are in violation of zoning and building codes ~ just file some complaints left and right ~ should be easy marks for that sort of civil action.
“This not some immigration problem - this is a humanitarian crisis of tremendous proportions,” Farley said. “This is a moral outrage. And I think it is an affront to God to criminalize and dehumanize and terrorize those of our fellow human beings who simply ask to be able to both provide for their families and live with their families.”
Courtesy Comment:
Err...... pastor Farley, these people of who you speak are illegals.
If you break the law the government should arrest and prosecute you for aiding and abetting a criminal.
Also, your tax exempt status should likewise be revoked post haste.
Who was it who recently explained that a lot of these “sanctuary” churches were actually making money out of immigrant-smuggling?
What were the details?
All it would take would be a few of these pastors arrested for human trafficking and their church property seized and auctioned off and you would hear the rumble of hundreds of leftist gadfly ministers being booted out by their congregations from sea to shining sea.
Unfortunately, many churches have simply become political lobby groups, following the latest trends. I don’t know about the Methodists, but I see many other denominations simply disappearing in the next 50 years.
I wonder if the Reverends Mary Ann Swenson and David Farley leave the doors to their homes unlocked so anyone can come and go as they please, help themselves to what’s in the refrigerator and camp out in the spare bedroom.
I’m guessing not.
Why, then, should the doors to our country be left open for people to come and go as they please?
The Methodist Church is different from district to district; only their theological roots are the same.
The would not be tolerated by the leadership or congregations in my area.
Last time I checked, there is a provision in the SAVE Act we’ve been trying to get passed, that will give these churches immunity for ‘sanctuary’ activity.
If anyone is aware this has been changed or in process of being changed, please post.
Will these same congregations agree to pay for all unpaid medical bills attributable to these illegals? Also make good on any crimes committed? Likewise make sure they all get drivers licenses and buy them insurance for as long as they are here?
I didn’t think so.....
Liberal activist is no damn reverend, too bad the he wasn't in the bus station.
I say it's long overdue to drag some of their bishops and local ministers before the bar as accomplices in these murders ~ do it here in Virginia where we can give 'em a ride on the gurney.
This is a Republic, not a theocracy ~ time to rise up and throw off the chains of Methodist church effrontery and anti-Americanism.
“Some of the ministers say the new sanctuary movement is important because like slaves, immigrants have been unable to fight for their own rights”
ILLEGALS have NO rights. And those of us who are having our wages taken and distributed to them are the real slaves.
This article is so full of bullsh!t I don’t know where to begin.
When a church enters the political arena and willingly breaks our nations laws then their tax free status should be instantly withdrawn!!!!
When will start seeing videos of some of these speeches (sermons?) urging illegal actions like we did Rev Wright? It is Hillary’s denomination of which she is so proud.
“We were then and are ready now to accept the consequences of our actions.”
.....he’s practically begging to get arrested here....folks, this is all part of making your bones in the Leftist wing of Protestantism....an arrest just feeds the moral exhibitionism these types relish.
Oh puhlease. Yet one more reason for me NOT to go to the church of my upbringing any more!!!!!!!
Nothing at all surprising here. The Methodists lost their way long ago.
make-em pay PROPERTY TAXES!!!then see how long they want to play htis game.
Somebody ought to tell Rev. Jim Ignatowski to lay down the damn bong, already.
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