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Ala. churches lead opposition to immigration law

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — For some believers and church leaders,

opposing Alabama’s toughest-in-the-nation law against illegal

immigration is a chance for Bible Belt redemption.

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During the civil rights movement of the 1950s and `60s, many state

churches didn’t join the fight to end Jim Crow laws and racial

segregation. Some cross-burning Ku Klux Klan members took off their

hoods and sat in the pews with everyone else on Sunday mornings,

and relatively few white congregations actively opposed

segregation. Some black churches were hesitant to get involved for

fear of white backlash.

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Now that Alabama has passed what’s widely considered the nation’s

most restrictive state law against illegal immigration, mainstream

churches, faith-based organizations and individual members are

leading opposition to the act. Some see their involvement as a way

to avoid repeating mistakes of the past.

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“I think what happened in the `60s may be a stimulus for the action

that you have seen many of the churches taking on this,” said

Chriss H. Doss, an attorney and ordained Southern Baptist

minister.

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Matt Lacey, pastor of a United Methodist church once attended by

Birmingham’s infamous segregationist police commissioner Eugene

“Bull” Connor, said there are all sorts of reasons Alabama

Christians are opposed to the law. Making amends for the past

inaction of religious groups is among them, he said.

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“For me, as pastor of a church that was engaged in that battle, it

is very important,” said Lacey. “If we take redemption very

seriously, then it not only covers our sins but our past actions as

a church. I think for some, there is a tendency to want to be on

the side of right on this issue. … I would like to think the

church just wants to do what’s right.”

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At 56, the Rev. Al Garrett is old enough to recall some faith

communities sitting on the sidelines during the civil rights

movement. Garrett, who helped organize a prayer rally that drew a

few hundred people Sunday night in Huntsville, said the difference

now is uplifting.

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“I’ve thanked God that I’ve been here to see the way people of

faith are taking a stand on this,” he said.

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After a prayer for wisdom, members of the Birmingham City Council

recently passed a unanimous resolution calling for the repeal of

the law. That same day, ministers and lay people gathered to

discuss opposition to the law in the same church where, more than

50 years ago, white segregationists gathered to form a group to

oppose white and black children going to school

together.

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Urged to come to a rally and candlelight march sponsored by

churches and faith-based groups, a diverse crowd estimated around

2,000 marched quietly through downtown streets on a recent Saturday

night near where police dogs snapped at black demonstrators two

generations ago.

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An interfaith prayer walk planned for July 30 in Montgomery will

pass Martin Luther King Jr.’s first church on the way to the steps

of Alabama’s Capitol. And more than 100 United Methodist ministers

– many of them moderate to liberal, but some also on the

conservative side – signed an open letter to the governor

criticizing the law.

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Believers are doing more than praying and protesting. The

ecumenical Greater Birmingham Ministries, a Montgomery-area church

member who works with Hispanics and two ministers were among the

groups and individuals who filed a federal lawsuit last week

attempting to have the law declared unconstitutional.

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Doss is struck by the differences between 2011 and 1963, when the

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his “Letter from a Birmingham

Jail” to seven white moderate ministers and a rabbi who were

publicly urging him to go slower with the campaign to end legalized

segregation. Many black churches also were slow initially to

embrace the cause of civil rights in Birmingham, where Klan night

riders roamed with bombs for years.

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“There were a number of black ministers who took a more

conservative position, that they were not going to get involved

publicly. Their involvement greatly increased through the years,”

said Wayne Coleman, head of archives at the Birmingham Civil Rights

Institute.

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Churches had little to say about the bill as it moved through the

Alabama Legislature, but that could be because they were

overwhelmed for weeks providing food and other assistance to

victims of the deadly tornadoes that swept across the state on

April 27, killing more than 240 people.

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In contrast, denominational leaders were outspoken at the Georgia

General Assembly as a similarly tough law moved toward final

passage in Atlanta. Religious leaders have been less vocal in

Georgia since legislators passed the law, but a federal judge

blocked key provisions of that act this week.

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Now in Alabama, leaders among the state’s fast-growing Hispanic

community hope the involvement of churches will help lead to a

repeal of the law, signed earlier this month by Republican Gov.

Robert Bentley, a Southern Baptist deacon and Sunday school

teacher.

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“It’s huge to have the faith community come together and speak out

in such great numbers against this new law,” said Isabel Rubio,

executive director of the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama.

“Because we’re in the middle of the Bible Belt, we certainly expect

that the faith communities’ influence … will land on folks’ ears

who are willing to listen.”

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Religious opposition to the new law – which has included not just

Christian churches but Jewish and Muslim congregations – is

two-fold.

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Some Christians see the issue in faith terms when they compare

biblical instructions to welcome strangers and love others with the

law’s ban on helping illegal immigrants secure a place to live, a

job, health care other than for emergencies and even a ride to the

store. Under the law, police can check anyone’s immigration status

during a traffic stop or other encounter and jail people without

bond if they don’t have proper documents.

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Fernando del Castillo, pastor of a Spanish-speaking congregation of

about 300 people in metro Birmingham, is particularly worried about

a provision requiring that schools check the immigration status of

students and report the information to the state. He fears some

immigrant parents will be afraid to send their children to school

when classes resume in August.

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“Will they keep them at home? I don’t know,” del Castillo

said.

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Others are worried the law could criminalize mission work with

illegal immigrants.

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“They wonder if this is the beginning of infringing on freedoms

that the church has considered its bailiwick,” Doss

said.

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Leaders of the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, the

Lutheran Church and the Roman Catholic Church all have criticized

the law as running counter to biblical teachings about caring for

neighbors, helping visitors and showing hospitality to

strangers.

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The state’s largest denomination, the Alabama Baptist Convention,

hasn’t taken a position publicly and likely won’t since it doesn’t

speak for individual churches. Convention president Mike Shaw,

pastor of a church in suburban Birmingham, said the law “is the

toughest in the nation and personally I think all laws need to be

enforced.”

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“I am concerned about the language concerning giving a ride in an

automobile to an illegal immigrant or allowing children of illegal

immigrant parents to ride on a church bus to Sunday school,

vacation Bible school, or church camp,” he said in a statement.

“Should we ignore people who are injured or have broken down on the

side of a busy interstate highway and have small children in

sweltering heat with no family or friends to help them?”

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Associated Press Writer Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to

this report.

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