2006.04.05: April 5, 2006: Headlines: COS - Guatemala: Immigration: Insidebayarea.com: Rev. Max Lynn says he saw the conditions that drove many immigrants here firsthand when he worked a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala in the 1980's
Peace Corps Online:
Peace Corps News:
Peace Corps Library:
Hispanic Studies:
January 23, 2005: Index: PCOL Exclusive: Hispanic Issues and Hispanic Studies :
2006.04.05: April 5, 2006: Headlines: COS - Guatemala: Immigration: Insidebayarea.com: Rev. Max Lynn says he saw the conditions that drove many immigrants here firsthand when he worked a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala in the 1980's
Rev. Max Lynn says he saw the conditions that drove many immigrants here firsthand when he worked a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala in the 1980's
More than a dozen Bay Area religious leaders are speaking out against legislation that would turn illegal immigrants into felons. And some are saying that if such legislation becomes law, they will defy it. "We're not obligated to the law of the state, if it contradicts the law of God," said the Rev. Max Lynn, pastor of St. John's Presbyterian Church in Berkeley. "I guarantee you — it would not be followed by the church if that House bill passed. It would simply be ignored and outwardly opposed."
Rev. Max Lynn says he saw the conditions that drove many immigrants here firsthand when he worked a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala in the 1980's
Immigration reform effort rankles clergy
Bay Area religious leaders say they will defy 'xenophobic' legislation
By Michele R. Marcucci, STAFF WRITER
Caption: Demonstrators carry signs as they protest house bill HR4437 which calls for tougher border protection and immigration laws in San Francisco, California. The explosion of protests against tough US immigration reforms marks an unprecedented flexing of Hispanic political muscle that has left the Washington administration scrambling to react. Photo: AFP/Getty Images/Justin Sullivan
More than a dozen Bay Area religious leaders are speaking out against legislation that would turn illegal immigrants into felons. And some are saying that if such legislation becomes law, they will defy it.
Eighteen clergy and supporters from different faiths, including many from the East Bay, have signed a letter pledging support for citizenship for those who are here illegally.
"To hear some of the rhetoric that's going on right now, it sounds very xenophobic," said the Rev. Will McGarvey, pastor of the Community Presbyterian Church in Pittsburg and the main letter writer. "It sounds like one group of people trying to preserve privilege — earlier immigrants — against more recent groups. We're trying to get people to recognize that we are all immigrants." The House of Representatives passed a bill in December making illegal presence in the United States and helping illegal immigrants felonies. It is unclear whether the Senate, which is divided on the path it will take, is expected to pass its own immigration bill by Friday. The deadline was set by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.
Some who signed the letter, which was sent to area media, said they are obligated to follow the law of God over that of the state.
"We're not obligated to the law of the state, if it contradicts the law of God," said the Rev. Max Lynn, pastor of St. John's Presbyterian Church in Berkeley. "I guarantee you — it would not be followed by the church if that House bill passed. It would simply be ignored and outwardly opposed."
The Rev. Norman Fong of the San Francisco Presbytery's Justice Advocacy and Caring Committee was even more outspoken on the bill.
"It says you are a felon. Churches would be punished. That's crazy. I'll go to jail first," he said.
Religious leaders throughout the United States have added their voices to the immigration debate, most advocating legalization. Cardinal Roger Mahony has spoken against the House bill, and the California Catholic Conference followed suit, calling for earned legalization and restoration of due process rights for illegal immigrants and no sanctions for those who provide humanitarian aid.
Most letter signers contacted Tuesday said they have an obligation to God to care for people who are less fortunate, regardless of what the state says.
That obligation is particular to immigrants, most said, pointing to the Old Testament passage Exodus 22:21 — "You shall not wrong an alien, neither shall you oppress him, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt."
"The church will go along with culture and society a lot," Lynn said. "But the freedom to help people in need and provide basic shelter, employment and care is just simply an absolute must."
Several said they have seen the conditions that drove many immigrants here firsthand as part of their ministry. Lynn said he worked in the Peace Corps in Guatemala in the late 1980s, at the tail end of the worst of that country's war. Fong's father was imprisoned at Angel Island when he came here in 1919, he said.
This also is not the first time Bay Area clergy have spoken out for immigrants. In 1982, a group of Berkeley churches — including Lynn's church — was at the forefront of the sanctuary movement, providing shelter for Central American refugees caught in midst of wars there.
Many immigrated illegally to the United States, but most were sent back, some to their deaths, said Sister Maureen Duignan, executive director of the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant. Some who helped shelter immigrants in the United States were jailed, she said. But in the tradition of the Bible, some people who made it here told their stories, transforming church congregations' views.
The illegal immigrants now are here for economic rather than political reasons, Duignan said. But she sees parallels between the two. If the House bill or something similar becomes law, she says she believes religious leaders will replicate the sanctuary movement but on a much larger scale.
Joyce Ann Mercer, an associate professor at the San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, said churches have done this work without pause, and the intense debate over immigration has only shined a spotlight on their work and views.
"The justice work of the church is not a new thing," Mercer said. "That's kind of the clarion call in this ministry."
Contact Michele R. Marcucci at mmarcucci@angnewspapers.com.
When this story was posted in March 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| History of the Peace Corps PCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help. |
| The Peace Corps Library The Peace Corps Library is now available online with over 40,000 index entries in 500 categories. Looking for a Returned Volunteer? Check our RPCV Directory. New: Sign up to receive PCOL Magazine, our free Monthly Magazine by email. Like to keep up with Peace Corps news as it happens? Sign up to recieve a daily summary of Peace Corps stories from around the world. |
| Peace Corps suspends program in Bangladesh Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez announced the suspension of the Peace Corps program in Bangladesh on March 15. The safety and security of volunteers is the number one priority of the Peace Corps. Therefore, all Peace Corps volunteers serving in Bangladesh have safely left the country. More than 280 Peace Corps volunteers have served in Bangladesh since the program opened in November 1998. Latest: What other newspapers say. |
| Invitee re-assigned after inflammatory remarks The Peace Corps has pulled the invitation to Derek Volkart to join the Morocco Training Program and offered him a position in the Pacific instead after officials read an article in which he stated that his decision to join the Peace Corps was in "response to our current fascist government." RPCV Lew Nash says that "If Derek Volkart spoke his mind as freely in Morocco about the Moroccan monarchy it could cause major problems for himself and other Peace Corps volunteers." Latest: Volkart reverses stance, takes new assignment in Paraguay. |
| March 1, 1961: Keeping Kennedy's Promise On March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy issues Executive Order #10924, establishing the Peace Corps as a new agency: "Life in the Peace Corps will not be easy. There will be no salary and allowances will be at a level sufficient only to maintain health and meet basic needs. Men and women will be expected to work and live alongside the nationals of the country in which they are stationed--doing the same work, eating the same food, talking the same language. But if the life will not be easy, it will be rich and satisfying. For every young American who participates in the Peace Corps--who works in a foreign land--will know that he or she is sharing in the great common task of bringing to man that decent way of life which is the foundation of freedom and a condition of peace. " |
| Paid Vacations in the Third World? Retired diplomat Peter Rice has written a letter to the Wall Street Journal stating that Peace Corps "is really just a U.S. government program for paid vacations in the Third World." Director Vasquez has responded that "the small stipend volunteers receive during their two years of service is more than returned in the understanding fostered in communities throughout the world and here at home." What do RPCVs think? |
| RPCV admits to abuse while in Peace Corps Timothy Ronald Obert has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a minor in Costa Rica while serving there as a Peace Corps volunteer. "The Peace Corps has a zero tolerance policy for misconduct that violates the law or standards of conduct established by the Peace Corps," said Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez. Could inadequate screening have been partly to blame? Mr. Obert's resume, which he had submitted to the Peace Corps in support of his application to become a Peace Corps Volunteer, showed that he had repeatedly sought and obtained positions working with underprivileged children. Read what RPCVs have to say about this case. |
| Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in danger When the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. Latest: Read the ongoing dialog on the subject. |
| Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong 170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community. |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: Insidebayarea.com
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Guatemala; Immigration
PCOL32379
59