Faith Leaders Challenge Alabama's Immigration Law

By Kent Faulk
Religion News Service

(RNS) Leaders of the Episcopal, Methodist and Roman Catholic churches in Alabama filed a federal lawsuit on Monday (Aug. 1) to stop enforcement of the state's new immigration law, which they say could strike at the core of their ability to worship.

The lawsuit was filed by: the Rt. Rev. Henry N. Parsley Jr., bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama; Rev. William H. Willimon, bishop of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church; the Most Rev. Thomas J. Rodi, Roman Catholic archbishop of Mobile; and the Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Roman Catholic bishop of Birmingham.

According to the lawsuit, "the bishops have reason to fear that administering of religious sacraments, which are central to the Christian faith, to known undocumented persons may be criminalized under this law."

The new law is set to go into effect Sept. 1.

The Justice Department also sued on Monday to challenge the law.

The lawsuit names Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange and Madison County District Attorney Robert L. Broussard as defendants in the civil lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for northern Alabama.

"Motivated by God's mandate that the faithful are humbly bound to welcome and care for all people, the leaders of the Episcopal, Methodist and Roman Catholic Churches of Alabama respectfully request this Court to stop the enforcement of Alabama's Anti-Immigration Law," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit states that it seeks to prevent "irreparable harm" to the 338,000 members of the three churches in Alabama. It calls Alabama's new law "the nation's most merciless anti-immigration legislation."

"If enforced, Alabama's Anti-Immigration Law will make it a crime to follow God's command to be Good Samaritans," according to the lawsuit.

The law, if enforced, will place Alabama church members in the "untenable position of verifying individuals' immigration documentation" before being able to provide things such as food, clothing, shelter and transportation to those in need, according to the lawsuit.

Among the lawsuit's other claims are that the new law violates:

• The First Amendment rights of church members.


• Rights of Alabama residents to freely assemble "and welcome all people to the altar."


• The ability of the churches to freely contract through the management of denominational thrift stores and church day cares and the performance of marriages, baptisms, and counseling services.

(Kent Faulk writes for The Birmingham News in Birmingham, Ala.)

Comments

[fass]

12:40 PM on 10/01/2011

when I was a litle girl i always heard that america is a christian nation. everybody is christian. as i am reading the bibble correctly. Love,passion, and compassion that is all the bible is about now don't tell me we are a chritian nation when all you do is putting people into severely bondage for your own gain

[fass]

12:33 PM on 10/01/2011

it just saddened me how you compare people as dogs. what kind of a human being are you.

[marciababble]

03:35 PM on 08/09/2011

I live in Alabama. I am a fiscal concervitive. I am embarrassed by this law.

The Mexican people that I know are hard workers. They do not get welfare, ssi, foodstamps, medicare, medicaid. They pay their own doctor bills with money they earn.

While here in Alabama working they buy food, clothes, and gas for their families all of which have sales tax on them. They rent homes and the owners of those places pay higher property taxes on that land than if they were covered under homestead exemption. These workers do not get unemployment. the ones I know are trying to learn English.

If you are currently unemployed and want to work why don't you go stand around the places where the Mexicans stand and wait for work? I think most employers at these places would rather have English speaking workers that want to work. Or if you can drive because you have a driver's liscense go to these gathering spots and offer to drive a crew to work and help transpost a crew to where they are needed... oh wait ... that will be illegal starting sept 1. Or teach someone English.... o wait that will be illegal also.

If all the Mexican workers leave alabama... who is going to rebuild from the tornados? Again this law is an embarrasment to alabama.... i might have to leave too

[RafaleMirage]

12:23 AM on 08/05/2011

Sad that these "religious leaders" are so immoral and utterly despicable.

Their open contempt for American children is truly troubling.

[RadicalAmerica]

09:27 PM on 08/04/2011

This morning I went to sign my dogs up for welfare. At first the lady said, "Dogs
are not eligible to draw welfare." So I explained to her that my dogs are mixed in color, unemployed, lazy, can't speak English, and have no frigging clue who their Daddy's are. Yet they expect me to feed them, provide them with housing, plus pay for medical care. So the welfare lady looked in her policy book to see what it takes to qualify.

My dogs get their first checks Friday. Damn, this is a great country.

[bettany23]

11:29 AM on 08/04/2011

The only difference between Mexico and Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria is distance and religion. All of these countries are a separate and sovereign country and their citizens when entering the US is aliens, but Mexicans are Catholics and Iranians and the others are practicing Moslems. If Iran was our neighbors we would already have an electrified fence with poise soldiers and we would never have the social problems we are having by the influx of mexicans crossing our borders illegally. So said, ilegal immigration is a crime ireregardless of who is doing it. Not: Since Barack Obma have become president he have had meetings with proponents of illegal iimigration more than other group, what happen to poor white, blacks and everybody else in between, he has met with La Raza during gov't verge of collapsing, middle of debt default debate illegals from Mexico is part of the unemploment problem, which is like a boiling kettle that needs to release the pressure by sending some people back to their home. country. I like Obama but the perception he gives is being the trumpeter of illegal immigration that is an impediment to employment of millions of Americans out of work. Does Obma realize that the only groups he meets with constantly is groups that support illegal immigration? What happen to the rest of us?

[stelwel15]

04:09 PM on 08/03/2011

I'm getting tired of reading "reasonable suspicion" concerning immigration. The public was assured that the Arizona Police were rigorously trained for detecting "reasonable suspicion;" therefore, there would be no violation of rights. What training does a priest have to go through to learn what is "reasonable suspicion?"

While I personally am atheist, I do not want the state to decline any church the right to give food and a blanket to someone in need. Also, this is not taxpayer money going to help out the needy. The state should let the church do its best to feed and clothe the poor--With the county so broke and unemployment so high, someone has to look out for those in need.

[voyager48]

01:41 PM on 08/07/2011

it has always been against the law to transport and harbor illegal aliens, so why now do you suddenly have a problem with this?

The recent laws are in fact merely local laws to make sure that federal laws are enforced. As sovereign entities, State and City police have always had the right to enforce both civil and criminal infractions of Federal Immigration laws.

[stelwel15]

04:26 PM on 08/08/2011

Never has a church had to go out of their way to verify a person's immigration status. It is always been condoned under a form of don't ask, don't tell policy; therefore, churches have been able to remain neutral in the war on illegal immigration.

And giving someone food, blanket, or communion is not the same as harboring illegal aliens.

[rcraincrow]

11:29 AM on 08/03/2011

The Church should keep in mind that the affairs of the state and of the church are separate, the bible is the business of Christ's Church not the government.

[Pax et Bonum]

12:32 PM on 08/03/2011

How then are peoples of faith and charity supposed to respond when the state begins to enact laws that create a secondary personhood, restrict the very practice of charity, and reinforce uneducated bias? Not speaking out, one of the greatest gifts of democracy, against such things can take the state down a dark road. Mala lex, nulla lex - A bad law is no law - Thomas Aquinas

[voyager48]

01:26 PM on 08/03/2011

Don't get confused by semantics blurring meanings of terms such as rights and privileges or criminal vs. civil infractions. Both illegal civil and criminal actions are breaches of teh law which just vary in seriousness by arbitary definition.

The "Bill of Rights" extends privileges to visitors in which the only right is to be treated with the same dignity as anyone else on US soil. This not a free pass to break laws.

Secondary personhood? Deportation is not punishment because you cannot take a way rights and freedoms that were never there to start with.

[rcraincrow]

06:12 PM on 08/03/2011

I was referring to the time when Christ disciple received a coin out of the mouth of a fish to pay their tax's. Christ ask him who is the face on the coin, he replied Cesar and Christ said render unto Cesar that which is his and unto God that which is God's. The powers that be are ordained by God for evil or for good. The duties of church leaders are the people whom make up the church and are not to become an activist in political affairs from the pulpit. Out side the church, yes you have every right to state what you believe and take part is such a way as you see fit.

[Willie12345]

08:36 AM on 08/03/2011

So, when has breaking a common, well reasoned law a transgression ?

[NYC123]

08:33 AM on 08/03/2011

The Christian leadership should be speaking out on a host of issues:
Wars we are engaged in
Wars we are engaged in, again
The high stakes heist against American in government
Union breaking
The distribution of wealth a handful of greedy while folks have it all
Abortion
Truth and oneness of the Christian teachings
The disenfranchising of the middle class in all fronts by comparison!
Divorce in America

No they decide to speak out on a benign topic

[LabRat]

08:11 AM on 08/03/2011

Good for them! Church run charities are about helping those in need. It isn't only the duty of a congregation, it is their right.

These laws aren't aimed solely at illegal immigrants, no matter what proponents say. It is has has been demonstrated to be a burden to legal immigrants and even 2nd, 3rd, and 13th generation immigrants as well. Proponents damn well know this, too but will never admit it.

[voyager48]

01:34 PM on 08/03/2011

Firstly the criteria that apply to immigration laws are the same criteria that apply to all other laws - reasonable suspicion and probable cause.

Secondly an already established right of all states to enforce criminal and civil infractions of federal Immigration law, which has always included transporting and harboring illegal aliens, so this is nothing new!

Most of these issues were settled 40 years ago in the civil rights struggles. Bottom line - if what you say is correct then we truly cannot apply any of our laws in a race neutral fashion and we are in deep, deep trouble!

[LabRat]

06:31 PM on 08/03/2011

I've heard too many horror stories to think these news harsher demand paper type laws will ever go well.

One of my best friends son lost his wife to the immigration authorities. She went to Canada and wasn't allowed back. They claimed it wasn't a 'real' marriage. The years long depression during his fight to get his wife back was, unfortunately, *way* too real.

My middle brother rarely visits this country - even though one of his citizenships is USA because living in Florida was enough to drive him out.

We are in trouble. We will be in worse trouble. Just ask Georgia.

[LakeArcher]

02:38 AM on 08/03/2011

In over 2,000 years of scientific inquiry and research, god has never been found . . . because . . . there is no god. "Man" made god, folks, not the other way around.

[Mikdow]

12:58 AM on 08/03/2011

There is some serious hate going on in this thread. See ya.

[HawaiiSteve]

11:36 PM on 08/02/2011

I'm not a Catholic or a Christian, but even I know that Jesus would not turn away someone in need simply because they didn't have proper papers. The lack of compassion of some of those posting on this thread is truly depressing.

[thorrsman]

11:49 PM on 08/02/2011

Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's. National borders are of the Kingdom of men, not the Kingdom of Heaven. Even Jesus said to follow the laws of men.

[HawaiiSteve]

12:13 AM on 08/03/2011

So, you would deny food to a hungry child simply because his brown-skinned parents are undocumented? Do you really think Jesus would let a child go hungry?

[Picosa]

03:33 PM on 08/03/2011

If the U.S. has a right to control it's borders, why doesn't Mexico?

Why did Bush have the right to send his goons to elect Mexico's last president for them? Another corrupt elitist that would continue to work for the interests of this country instead of Mexico and her people.

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/07/341919.shtml

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/07/342179.shtml

Why is the U.S. all over Mexico's up coming presidential elections like a wet suit? Why has the U.S. already decided who Mexico's next President will be?

http://reflexioneslibertarias.blogspot.com/2010/08/nntv-al-gores-mexican-adventure.html

If it’s legal for U.S. corporatio­­­ns to flood Mexico’s markets with cheap imports,(NAFTA) only a hypocrite would say it’s illegal for Mexico's impoverish­­­ed workers to live and work in the U.S.?

If it's legal for the U.S. government to pay Mexico's ruling elite to fight Americas war on drugs in Mexico at the expense of the lives of Mexican people, only a hypocrite would say it is illegal for Mexicans who fear for their lives to flee across the border seeking safety for themselves and the lives of their children?

There are a few videos circulating that address the root causes of migration and in doing so, muddles our idea of illegality:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNLnBnTuxvU

CORN COUNTRY PAIS MAIZ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YexMYrGCIqY

[tonylaz]

10:51 PM on 08/02/2011

Hypocrisy. I haven't heard any of these holy men offering to house, feed, and keep the immigrants in their own rectories.

In my home archdioces­e of Baltimore, a recent letter from the archbishop strongly encouraged community open arms to immigrants but not differenti­ating between legal or illegal, and not he himself offering to house, feed, and keep the immigrants in his own rectory, but rather implying that it's the job of others.

The Church here has been in bed with Democrats for as long as I can remember, being a willing tool of that conspiracy­, yet complainin­g that abortion and promiscuit­y (favorites of Dems) are rampant. If you sleep with the devil, you're sure to wake up covered in coal dust.

It is these types of hypocrisie­s that have prompted me to stop putting money in the collection plate, a portion of which goes directly to Baltimore, and to even question the Church because of it's involvemen­t in purely political matters. My money now goes to charities, mostly local.

When these spiritual elites back up their admonition­s with personal actions (remember Mother Theresa?), I may believe that they're acting with Christian charity and start taking them seriously.

[P3]

11:44 PM on 08/02/2011

Yo, Tony, its not religion, its about getting the holy Spirit, so that ones heart is changed and set right, so that we care and love others with compassion and humility, its not about money (love of money) its where a person is at in their spiritual growth or walk with God and they display it in their words and actions

[tonylaz]

12:50 AM on 08/03/2011

My point is that these spiritual elites are hypocrites, mouthing that others should do that which they would not do themselves.

[Willie12345]

08:42 AM on 08/03/2011

Kindness, compassion, charity and other Christ like actions are very important. Also is taking care of your own poor, elderly, disabled, sick and disadvantaged. There is only some much money available. Our first obligation is to take care of our own.