March 2, 2017
YOU CAN BE EITHER CHRISTIAN OR NATIVIST)
Donald Trump's Inaugural Pastor Creates 'Safe Haven' for Immigrants (Elisabeth Dias, 3/01/17, TIME)
The Sacramento church of an evangelical pastor who led a prayer at Donald Trump's inauguration is offering beds for congregants who need a safe haven from immigration raids or domestic violence.Pastors at New Season Christian Worship Center set up thirty cots in two large rooms just days after the President issued his January executive order that expanded federal deportation policy. Congregants spread the word that they were available for anyone who was afraid of the immigration policies' potential effect. Half a dozen families showed up in the past month. Most stayed just a couple of days. About half came with fears over immigration and half with fears of domestic abuse, according to church officials. [...]
Theologically conservative churches face different challenges from their liberal counterparts. Many evangelical churches have members who are strong Trump supporters as well as immigrants who are both legal and undocumented. NHCLC is a largely conservative network of evangelical Hispanic churches, and Latino evangelical congregations have been growing quickly in the U.S. Nearly a quarter of Assemblies of God churches, for example, are Latino, and much of the new growth has come from Hispanic communities. "This is a community that is not completely hostile to him," Rodriguez says. "It was the conservative evangelical community that played a dominant role in the election of our president."Predominantly white evangelical congregations face a similar challenge. Rod Loy leads First Assembly North Little Rock in Arkansas, a theologically conservative church, and he estimates that 10% of his 5,000-congregant church is Latino. This week, Loy met with the Latino leadership of his church to talk about the "overwhelming" fear that families are feeling from Trump's policies. The church also gave a college student about $1500 to pay for her family's citizenship papers. Whenever a church member becomes a citizen, Loy says, the church celebrates during the Sunday service, giving them a standing ovation and a "basket of Americana," including a can of Coke, an American flag, apple piece and a baseball.Loy hopes to start a church-based immigration program, and is sending a team to an upcoming immigration law training in Minneapolis with the Evangelical Free Church of America. He expects to soon have volunteers to represent congregants in immigration court. "We are all very concerned," Loy says. "We have to respect our president, we have to respect our leaders, but if you live in fear, there is no freedom."
Posted by Orrin Judd at March 2, 2017 7:23 AM