U.S. Religious Leaders Embrace Cause of Immigrant Children

[cbayer]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/24/us/us-religious-leaders-embrace-cause-of-immigrant-children.html?_r=0

By MICHAEL PAULSON
JULY 23, 2014


Father Jack Barker of St. Martha’s Catholic Church in Murrieta, Calif., spoke at a vigil. Credit Monica Almeida/The New York Times

After protesters shouting “Go home” turned back busloads of immigrant mothers and children in Murrieta, Calif., a furious Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, the Roman Catholic archbishop of New York, sat down at his notepad and drafted a blog post detailing his shame at the episode, writing, “It was un-American; it was unbiblical; it was inhumane.”

When the governor of Iowa, Terry E. Branstad, said he did not want the migrants in his state, declaring, “We can’t accept every child in the world who has problems,” clergy members in Des Moines held a prayer vigil at a United Methodist Church to demonstrate their desire to make room for the refugees.

The United States’ response to the arrival of tens of thousands of migrant children, many of them fleeing violence and exploitation in Central America, has been symbolized by an angry pushback from citizens and local officials who have channeled their outrage over illegal immigration into opposition to proposed shelter sites. But around the nation, an array of religious leaders are trying to mobilize support for the children, saying the nation can and should welcome them.

“We’re talking about whether we’re going to stand at the border and tell children who are fleeing a burning building to go back inside,” said Rabbi Asher Knight of Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, who said leaders of more than 100 faith organizations in his city had met last week to discuss how to help. He said that in his own congregation, some were comparing the flow of immigrant children to the Kindertransport, a rescue mission in the late 1930s that sent Jewish children from Nazi Germany to Britain for safekeeping.

more at link

[trotsky]

1. And there are U.S. religious leaders who oppose this.

It really has nothing to do with religion - this is a human rights issue. Introducing two camps to yell at each other about what god wants doesn't help much.

[rug]

2. "It really has nothing to do with religion"

Yes, all the bad it does is due to religion; all the good it does has nothing to do with religion.

[UrbScotty]

3. And I'm sure there are atheists who support the xenophobic side.

[trotsky]

4. Without a doubt!

Because, as I said, it really has nothing to do with religion.