Faith groups weigh in on border issue

Faith groups' statements this week concerning unaccompanied children crossing the U.S.-Mexican border:

EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA

Scripture repeatedly, and unapologetically, calls for God's people to welcome the stranger, the alien, the orphan, the widow, and the sojourner. This is why the refugee crisis that continues to unfold on the southern border of the United States is of particular concern to Christians.

Reports from leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) who have visited the border have helped many of us who watch from afar to understand some of the dynamics that are lost in media reporting, especially when couched in the context of current political tensions and debate.

The recent surge of unaccompanied minors crossing the border is caused by the escalation of violence and poverty in Central America. The 'Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act” of 2008, signed into law by President George W. Bush, requires that children who are seeking asylum be protected and given due process and sanctuary. But current circumstances have overtaxed transitional facilities, creating overflows, delays and the establishment of new shelters with conditions that undermine the progress that has been made in serving children in recent years.

While the most immediate pressures are felt in the border states, Iowans have a long and treasured history of opening our hearts and our doors to people who are in need, especially children. Even while holding divergent views on how best to shape and implement just and comprehensive immigration policy, people of goodwill can provide needed support, and when possible, a welcome place for these unaccompanied minors. For Christians, active hospitality in situations like this is a matter of faith, which is why so many believers here in Iowa, including members of the ELCA, are ready and willing to help.

Bishop Michael L. Burk, Southeastern Iowa synod, Bishop Steven L. Ullestad, Northeastern Iowa synod, Bishop Rodger Prois, Western Iowa synod

JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN GREATER DES MOINES

The Jewish community, as represented by an array of twenty national Jewish organizations, several with which we are affiliated locally, notably the Jewish Federations of North America, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Union of Reform Judaism and the Rabbinical Assembly of the Conservative Movement, has in a statement issued on July 7th, 2014, addressed the issue of the unaccompanied children at the U.S. - Mexico border.

They and we, as well, are concerned with the increasing level of violence inflicted upon the residents of Central America by the transnational crime syndicates and that many people of that region are quite understandably migrating toward the Mexican- U.S. border to escape from harm.

The situation has created an urgent humanitarian crisis. Whatever the U.S. solution to this immigration problem involving both asylum seekers and officially proclaimed refugees, we insist, based on our religious imperatives, that the safety and well-being of the migrants, particularly the unaccompanied children - must be at the heart of every American policy decision involved.

On a technical level, we realize there is a conflict in the matter between the immigration status accorded differentially to asylum seekers and refugees. Our position is that the Administration and Congress should not be pitting the interests of resettled refugees directly against those of migrant children. We believe that ultimately these important issues need to be straightened out within a comprehensive restructuring of immigration policies both to protect security interests as well as to provide policy to facilitate the entry into the U.S. through legal means on a timely and humane basis.

Based on the Jewish values to which we adhere and our proud history as a community and nation established by immigrants and refugees, we urge the U.S. government to protect both children and refugees in a humane manner. As Jewish Iowans, we are particularly concerned that Iowa continue to be a welcoming place for immigrants, maintaining its reputation strongly established during the governorship of Robert Ray, a fellow Republican governor.

Rabbi David Kaufman, Temple B'nai Jeshurun, Rabbi Edelman-Blank, Tifereth Israel Synagogue, Mark Finkelstein, Jewish Community Relations Commission of the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines

CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE UPPER MIDWEST (Disciples of Christ)

If we love our Neighbor?

John 13: 34-35: 'I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By

this everyone will know that you are my disciples; if you have love for one another.” (NRSV)

This summer at our church camps we attempted to teach our youth and children a basic understanding of being a Disciple of Christ. We shared with our children the stories of Jesus reaching out with compassion to the least of these. We taught our youth how Jesus reached out with love to outsiders and considered them as 'Neighbors.” Then we encouraged them to go and be Disciples by welcoming and sharing compassion with all, with a particular emphasis on welcoming the least of these.

In recent days we have heard the stories of over 57,000 children from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala who are fleeing to the United States to escape untold poverty and devastatingly unsafe conditions.

Though the current situation has and will likely continue to be spark debates over immigration policies, discussions about border security, and concerns around the costs to State budgets; as Disciples of Christ, let us teach our children and youth to first see these children as Neighbors to be loved.

We ask that before all else we pause for prayer for our Neighbors! Let us 'Go and be Disciples” by providing compassion for these children and welcoming them to the tables in our churches. Let us 'Go and be Disciples” in the same manner we encouraged all the youth and

children who attended camp this summer. May the words we speak and the actions we take help to show the whole world that we are Disciples of Christ who first loved us!

Revs. Bill Spangler-Dunning, William Mitchell, Tammy Rottschaefer, Jim Wakelin, Julie Gibson, with Bert Burns and Connie Derby Dicks

PRESBYTERY OF DES MOINES

Recent statements regarding the unwillingness of our state to welcome unaccompanied minor children seeking refuge in Iowa have been at least discouraging, if not confusing to faith communities and others in our state. These statements are confusing because Iowa has a history of being a welcoming state. There has even been a program at one of our public universities - the University of Northern Iowa - called Welcoming New Iowans. The influx of new Iowans who have come as a result of this welcoming atmosphere has helped our population grow. So - we have a program out of one of our state universities encouraging and supporting a welcoming atmosphere at the same time that we have representatives of the state government indicating that we are not welcoming. This is confusing. to say the least.

The Presbyterians in south central Iowa have been very much a part of welcoming new folks as we have welcomed brothers and sisters from Sudan. Along with several other faith traditions, we continue to provide space, support and other assistance to our Sudanese friends. We regularly receive thanks from the Sudanese for welcoming them to Iowa and helping them feel at home.

More importantly. this kind of an attitude goes against the teachings of the many strong faith communities in Iowa. Welcoming the stranger, hospitality, if you will, is a part of the backbone of these traditions. For Christians. the Scriptures are full of words and actions of caring for the stranger. One passage says: 'Be ready with a meal or a bed when it's needed. Why, some have extended hospitality to angels without ever knowing it!” (Hebrews 13: 2: The Message). I know that we Presbyterians stand with other faith traditions in wanting to open our hearts to these children and be of assistance wherever we can. Christian musician John Paul Walter sings these words in 'If An Angel Came to See You”- 'If an angel came to see you. Would you make her feel at home? Or would you let her pass you by and spend your life alone?”

May we Iowans show our true spirit of gracious hospitality and find ways to welcome these 'angels” who are in our midst.

Rev. Philip W. Barrett, General Presbyter and Stated Clerk

EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF IOWA & IOWA ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

The unfolding humanitarian crisis of more than 57,000 children fleeing to the United States from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala is bringing the immigration debate and the worldwide refugee crisis closer to home.

Before we retreat to arguments of border security, cost to states and quick-fix policy decisions, let us all pause for a time of prayer and immediate compassionate response.

Every day, in hundreds of places around the world, mothers and fathers flee the countries and communities they love for reasons of safety and sheer survival. Desperate situations result in desperate efforts, as witnessed by thousands of unaccompanied children risking their lives for a chance to hope, eat, and grow up in a free society. Unaccompanied children are willing to be put in harm's way and risk arduous journeys to reunite with a family member residing in the United States. According to the Migration Policy Institute, approximately 85 percent of the unaccompanied children have a family member residing in the United States.

We believe this may be a defining moment in our witness as faith leaders in the United States. Let this crisis involving thousands of innocent children bring out the best in Iowans. How we respond to children in this and all situations is a test of our national character and our capacity to wed compassion with justice and hospitality.

This weekend, July 18-20, please join others concerned about these children for a time of prayer and compassionate response. Reach out to persons you know from countries where children are fleeing and connect with churches and organizations working with these children.

Encourage our governor, and elected officials, to choose humanitarian hospitality as our first response, while we eagerly wait for immigration reform that unites families and acknowledges the causes of this current crisis.

We can echo the words of Jesus from Matthew 19:14 when he said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” (New Revised Standard Version)

Bishop Alan Scarfe, Episcopal Diocese of Iowa, Bishop Julius C. Trimble, Iowa Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church

IOWA CONFERENCE, UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

We call the people of the Iowa Conference to prayer and to action.

We commit ourselves and invite you to prayerful remembrance. We prayerfully remember the witness of wanderers and strangers that stirs through our sacred texts. We prayerfully re-call the words of law and voices of prophets through which God insists that the people of God give particular attention to the well-being of the strangers and of the fatherless. We prayerfully remember the Word that lived in Jesus, a Word that commanded love and directed that love beyond the comfortable and familiar toward new definitions of neighbor and toward far margins of risk and sacrifice. We re-call our story of the child refugee Jesus, carried by his parents to safety in Egypt.

We commit ourselves and invite you to prayerful intercession. For children living in dangers beyond the borders of our imaginations. For parents making excruciating choices. For those who meet the children at our nation's edge. For the members of the U.S. Border Patrol. For those offering shelter and care. For those raising shouts of fear and hatred. For those who have legal authority to show justice and mercy. For those who have political authority to shape change.

We commit ourselves and invite you to listen with purpose for the voice of the Holy Spirit in the words of Scripture and of news reporting and of public conversation. We listen attentively for what the Spirit is guiding us, not someone else, to say and do. We listen for the Spirit's summons to speak and to listen in our congregations and communities. We listen for the Spirit's summons to bear witness to those in political authority that the first

We commit ourselves and invite you to seek opportunities to offer the radical hospitality and extravagant welcome that are at the heart of our common life in the United Church of Christ, to make room and to support the work of others who are making room.

We commit ourselves and invite to you to draw courage from courage. From thousands of children who find the courage to keep walking, we find the courage to keep walking at their sides. We commit ourselves and invite you to boldly and more boldly follow Jesus.

Rich Pleva, Jonna Jensen, Brigit Stevens, Laura Arnold, Samantha Houser, Katherine Mulhern