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MILWAUKEE, Aug. 8, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), today at the 2019 ELCA Churchwide Assembly declared itself a Sanctuary Denomination, dedicated to serving and supporting the protection of migrants in communities nationwide. The ELCA is the first mainstream church body in America to declare itself a sanctuary denomination. The movement was spearheaded by the Metropolitan New York Synod (MNYS), one of the 65 synods of the ELCA.
"Christians have offered sanctuary for two thousand years, continuing an ancient biblical practice in which cities and houses of worship provided refuge and asylum for people fleeing injustice," stated Christopher Vergara, who serves as chairperson of MNYS's AMMPARO/Sanctuary Ministry. "Beginning in the 1980s, the Sanctuary Movement was a faith-based initiative to protect Central American refugees fleeing civil war and seeking safety in the United States. Today, the New Sanctuary Movement is a revived effort to protect undocumented migrants from needless jailing procedures and deportation, and to address the dire situation within the Department of Health and Human Services that has resulted in the stripping of services to refugees and unaccompanied children."
By its vote, the ELCA Churchwide Assembly deemed that sanctuary means not only provision of shelter but also:
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A local NPR News report (I heard a different NPR station, down in Illinois, reporting it this morning):
"On Wednesday, hundreds of members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) became the latest religious group to protest the Trump administration’s immigration policies. They marched to the offices of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in downtown Milwaukee.
"The ELCA is holding its annual Churchwide Assembly at the Wisconsin Center this week.
"The Lutheran group borrowed from religious reformer Martin Luther. In 1517, he attached 95 theses containing his religious questions and proposals to the door of a German church.
"At Wednesday's protest, ELCA members read nine pro-immigration theses outside the ICE office. Retired Milwaukee Rev. Dennis Jacobsen read the first thesis. ..."
Lutheran Activists Borrow From Martin Luther, Protest Immigration Policies In Milwaukee
"Christians have offered sanctuary for two thousand years, continuing an ancient biblical practice in which cities and houses of worship provided refuge and asylum for people fleeing injustice," stated Christopher Vergara, who serves as chairperson of MNYS's AMMPARO/Sanctuary Ministry. "Beginning in the 1980s, the Sanctuary Movement was a faith-based initiative to protect Central American refugees fleeing civil war and seeking safety in the United States. Today, the New Sanctuary Movement is a revived effort to protect undocumented migrants from needless jailing procedures and deportation, and to address the dire situation within the Department of Health and Human Services that has resulted in the stripping of services to refugees and unaccompanied children."
By its vote, the ELCA Churchwide Assembly deemed that sanctuary means not only provision of shelter but also:
- A response to raids, detentions, deportations, and the criminalization of immigrants and refugees;
- A strategy to fight individual cases of deportation, to advocate for an end of mass detention, and to amplify immigrant voices;
- A vision for what communities and the world can be; and
- A moral imperative to take prophetic action of radical hospitality rooted in the ancient traditions of our faith communities.
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A local NPR News report (I heard a different NPR station, down in Illinois, reporting it this morning):
"On Wednesday, hundreds of members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) became the latest religious group to protest the Trump administration’s immigration policies. They marched to the offices of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in downtown Milwaukee.
"The ELCA is holding its annual Churchwide Assembly at the Wisconsin Center this week.
"The Lutheran group borrowed from religious reformer Martin Luther. In 1517, he attached 95 theses containing his religious questions and proposals to the door of a German church.
"At Wednesday's protest, ELCA members read nine pro-immigration theses outside the ICE office. Retired Milwaukee Rev. Dennis Jacobsen read the first thesis. ..."
Lutheran Activists Borrow From Martin Luther, Protest Immigration Policies In Milwaukee