In an op-ed in The Birmingham News, Samford University Professor Douglas Clapp reflects on a recent conference held at his school to discuss H.B. 56 and the Christian perspective on immigration:
Alabama deserves the sort of thoughtful dialogue I heard at the recent G92 South Immigration Conference. In response to the gloomy news about the effects of HB 56, a loose coalition of students and my colleagues at Samford University — an institution with historic roots in and a sustained relationship with the Alabama Baptist Convention — organized a series of sessions to examine the scriptural and theological foundations for a Christian perspective on immigrants and immigration.
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I am grateful that Samford students paused to think more carefully and respond more thoughtfully. I am encouraged that the students’ maturity and kindness received compliments from our guests. I was touched by the gratitude of a young man from the Latino community who expressed his sincerest thanks that we would want to hear the voice of his community.
And I am hopeful that such dialogue — inside and outside of the church, inside and outside of the university, inside and outside of Alabama — will encourage a redemptive response to a people whom God has put in our midst.
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Rev. Jim Evans, a Baptist pastor in Auburn, Alabama and syndicated columnist, has a great column this week on Alabama’s harsh and counterproductive anti-immigrant law, HB-56. Evans, who spoke at a recent prayer service and press conference at the Alabama statehouse, writes:
Passed as HB56, the law has been variously identified and vilified as one of the toughest, if not the toughest, state immigration law in the country.
Almost immediately, state legislators became aware of many unintended consequences in the law that affected local business and licensing practices. But beyond these bureaucratic inconveniences, there exists a host of other problems — not the least of which is a total lack of compassion built into the bill.
This is where religious leaders felt compelled to speak. For a state as overtly religious as Alabama, it doesn’t make sense for us to support and defend such a regressive approach to immigration. One poll from a few years back suggests that something like 95 percent of Alabamians subscribe to some form of Christianity or Judaism. If that number is correct, the Scriptures of our faith ought to have some bearing on the sort of laws we pass and the way those laws treat certain groups of human beings in our midst.
Faith leaders have been part of the chorus of voices challenging Alabama’s law and Rev. Evans’ column continues to build on the momentum the faith community is gaining in their fight to overturn a law that criminalizes their ministries and fosters a climate of fear and suspicion.
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In a nod to the historic march of over forty years ago, civil rights activists, prominent religious leaders and working Americans are marching from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, to protest the state’s harsh voter-suppression laws that disenfranchise low-income and minority voters.
Hundreds of people are following in the footsteps of past leaders, some of whom have returned to build on their legacy:
“This is about repeating a part of Alabama’s past that does not bear repeating,” Murguia said of the state’s immigration law. “Voter suppression laws and anti-immigration laws are their way of turning back the clock, but we are not going to allow that to happen.”
Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat but Alabama native who was badly beaten during the attack on marchers in 1965, rallied marchers Sunday, telling them that the struggles for human rights in 1965 and in 2012 are the same.
“Forty-seven years ago I spilled a little blood on that bridge but that was nothing compared to those who died so that we could live in a better America,” Lewis told a large crowd in front of Brown Chapel AME Church, the same church marchers used to stage the 1965 march. “We march today for what we did 47 years ago — for what is fair, what is right and for what is just.”
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The faith community’s effort to overturn Alabama’s anti-immigrant HB 56 law continues to pick up steam. Last week, evangelicals met in Alabama to talk about immigration reform that adheres to biblical, human principles, a meeting that has obvious implications for the legislature’s reconsideration of HB 56.
Then, dozens of faith leaders rallied at the state capitol yesterday to pray and lobby for repeal of the law. Rev. Bart Thau, a Methodist pastor who spoke at the event, said:
”We are all children of God, and today I call upon our legislators and I call upon the people of this state who elected them to live up to that higher calling and call for the repeal of a law that brings only hate, fear and separation.”
Faithful Alabamians have sent the legislature a clear message. They oppose the effort to degrade an entire group of people that has had severe economic consequences and troubled the conscience of the nation. They expect their legislators to act in compassionate ways that puts the welfare of the entire state above political calculations and an extreme anti-immigrant ideology.
UPDATE: Small tweak was made to the first sentence for clarity.
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Prominent Alabama pastors, bishops and other religious leaders will gather for a prayer service and press conference on Tuesday, Feb. 28 at 1:00 p.m. at the Alabama Statehouse to pray for and urge repeal of the anti-immigrant law HB-56. The faith community in Alabama is continually speaking out and mobilizing advocacy efforts to repeal HB-56, which makes it a crime for churches, charities and even neighbors to offer help to anyone who is not a legal resident.
Participants in the prayer service and press conference will sign an oversized copy of a letter to state legislators urging them to repeal the law because it “not only unfairly targets a very vulnerable segment of our society, but also is contrary to our faith teachings to welcome the stranger in our midst and to love our neighbor regardless of race, country of origin, or immigration status.” After the event, faith leaders will meet with state legislators to convey their concerns about HB-56 and request that it be repealed.
WHAT: Prayer event and press conference with faith leaders speaking out against HB-56 and urging its repeal
WHO: Prominent Alabama faith leaders and people of faith, including
Rev. James Evans, Pastor of Auburn First Baptist Church, Auburn, AL
Bishop James Levert Davis, Servant Prelate of the 9th Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church
WHEN: Tuesday, February 28 at 1 p.m. CST
WHERE: Alabama Statehouse, 11 South Union Street, Montgomery, AL 36131
Religious leaders will pray, share stories from their churches, and stand up against legislation that criminalizes people of faith from following their churches’ teaching to act as the Good Samaritan. The law has created a climate of fear and suspicion that divides Alabama’s churches and communities and has been a disaster for Alabama’s economy and agriculture.
Faith leaders also joined a recent “One Heart, One Alabama” rally and lobby day on February 14 at the Statehouse, urging legislators to repeal HB-56 because of its devastating shortcomings and impact on Alabama’s economy, business climate and communities.
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