SALT LAKE CITY — More than two dozen religious groups across the country filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to challenge recent changes in immigration policy.
It comes just weeks after the Trump administration determined that churches would no longer be ‘sensitive areas,’ allowing federal officials to make arrests in those spaces.
At their very foundation, churches serve to offer a warm welcome to all who worship God.
“We are places where people can come, they can bring all their worldly fears and they will find sustenance,” said Bishop Phyllis Spiegel, who serves as the 12th bishop for the Episcopal Diocese of Utah. “Especially in the hardest time of their life.”
Bishop Spiegel says in her diocese, that holds particularly true for our migrant communities.
“I believe we stand profoundly with those who are marginalized,” Bishop Spiegel said.
But under the current immigration enforcement directives the bells and hymns which soothe these sacred spaces can’t bring the same comfort to those congregants.
“The fear is so high right now that it doesn’t take much to make people very afraid,” Bishop Spiegel added.
Bishop Spiegel says in all her years following Christ, she never thought that simply sitting in a pew and picking up a prayer book could be deemed unsafe for members of her diocese.
“The call that breaks my heart is when people were on their way to church, they saw ICE and they were afraid to go to church - so they turned around,” said Bishop Spiegel.
A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday challenges those new policies and says they infringe on religious freedoms.
The lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., adds that the new policy is spreading fear throughout these communities and resulting in lower attendance at services.
“Praise God…because it’s time for us to raise up in a unified voice,” said Bishop Spiegel.
27 groups, featuring a wide variety of denominations and people from all different backgrounds, came together to protect the prayers of those who now face hard times. That includes the Episcopal Church.
“This is no theology of the one God,” Bishop Spiegel said. “This is no theology of those who believe in the innate and inherent dignity of humans.”
Bishop Spiegel says this effort is why she’s proud to be Episcopalian and why she will follow Jesus’s command to love her neighbors as herself.
“I’ve assured our congregations and the clergy that they have not only our prayers and our support, but our willingness to be ready whenever they call,” said Bishop Spiegel.
