Evangelicals are entering the debate on the morality of the sanctuary movement.
The parishioners of the Wheadon United Methodist Church in Evanston, Illinois, call him Juan Gonzalez. But that’s a name he adopted to remain anonymous.
Juan is an 18-year-old undocumented alien from El Salvador, one of hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans living in the United States illegally. He believes that if word of his whereabouts gets back to his home country, the family he left behind will be killed.
Gonzalez is living under the protection of the Wheadon church, one of about 100 U.S. congregations that since 1982 have declared themselves “sanctuaries.” More than 1,000 other churches endorse and support the growing sanctuary movement. To support their actions, they cite the church’s biblical and historical role as a haven for those fleeing persecution.
Like many others who have fled Central America, Gonzalez has a dramatic story to tell. He says his village was raided by Salvadoran government soldiers. He and his brother escaped, but lost track of each other. Gonzalez returned a few days later to find his brother hanging in a tree, his heart cut out and his hands cut off. Says Wheadon copastor Greg Dell, “I have no doubt that if Juan would return to El Salvador, he would be killed, too.”
The U.S. government does not regard most of those who have come from Central America as refugees. According to the Refugee Act of 1980, an alien must demonstrate “well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular group, or political opinion” to achieve refugee status. Less than 3 percent of the Central American applicants for political asylum receive it. Hundreds of Central Americans are deported each month.
The government says most of the aliens are not fleeing bullets, but chasing jobs. Congressmen who support legislation to limit alien immigration argue that the influx has a negative effect on the American economy.
What happens to Central American aliens when they are returned is disputed. Some question the accuracy of the horror stories they hear. Others point out studies indicating that a high percentage of those who go back to El Salvador are killed.
A recent U.S. State Department report acknowledges the “ongoing civil strife” in El Salvador. The problem is complicated by a corrupt judiciary and political violence. But civil strife in an alien’s homeland is not sufficient reason for the granting of refugee status. “If civil strife or a government that may be somewhat oppressive were the standard, a high percentage of the world’s population would be eligible for asylum,” says Verne Jervis of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).
Supporters of the sanctuary movement maintain that Central America, and particularly El Salvador, is different from the rest of the world. They say the United States is largely to blame for oppression in El Salvador. And they contend that America does not regard Salvadorans as refugees because it backs the Salvadoran government.
U.S. Representative John Moakley (D-Mass.) has proposed legislation that would grant Salvadorans the right to stay in the United States temporarily. They would be allowed to remain at least until the completion of a study to determine what has happened to those who have been sent back. The legislation was prompted by Massachusetts churches active in the sanctuary movement.
The Chicago Religious Task Force is coordinating the movement nationally. Aliens are met at the border and transported to sanctuary sites. Routinely, churches notify the government of their sanctuary status. So far the INS has made no effort to apprehend those who have sought refuge in churches.
As a corollary to the sanctuary movement, some are involved in an effort to transport aliens to Canada, where it is easier for them to achieve refugee status. Some 75 American and Canadian churches participate in the “overground railroad” headed by Julius Belser of the Reba Place Fellowship in Evanston. While preparing for migration to Canada, aliens buy time in the United States by applying for asylum. Virtually all applicants are turned down. But until their requests are acted on, U.S. law recognizes them as legal residents.
The overground railroad is an alternative for churches who support the spirit of the sanctuary movement but wish to remain loyal to United States law.
Of the hundreds of thousands who have come from Central America, only about 200 have taken advantage of sanctuary. Explaining the meager numbers, Chicago task force spokesman Dan Dale says the movement “was never envisioned as a mass resettlement program. Our goal is to protest U.S. intervention and to bring peace to Central America.”
Most church groups active in the sanctuary and overground railroad movements belong to mainline denominations and the historic peace churches. But some evangelicals also are involved, including the Sojourners community in Washington, D.C., and Evanston’s Reba Place. Evangelicals for Social Action is beginning to assess its role. And some of the constituents of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) endorse the movement.
Don Bjork, of World Relief, NAE’s humanitarian arm, believes Salvadorans should be allowed to stay in the United States until conditions in El Salvador stabilize. “A strong biblical and historical case for sanctuary can be made,” he says. But neither Bjork nor the NAE endorse the movement as a whole because it was born out of political protest and has been a deliberate adversary of U.S. foreign policy.
Bjork says more can be accomplished by working with the government to make immigration and refugee laws more “flexible, humane, and nondiscriminatory.” A growing number of evangelicals are addressing some of the issues that helped spawn the sanctuary movement, including U.S. immigration laws.
“Evangelicals have been very slow to recognize the challenge brought on by the millions of newcomers to North America,” Bjork says. He notes that the U.S. refugee ceiling for fiscal 1984 is set at 72,000, down from 140,000 in 1982 despite an increase in world refugee totals.
“It’s simply not true that the alien is harmful to our economy,” he adds. “Reliable studies suggest the opposite is true. Americans don’t want the jobs aliens are taking.”
Bjork maintains that the Bible calls Christians to receive aliens and that the United States has plenty of room. He says America should be a nation that welcomes the Juan Gonzalezes of this world, regardless of their reasons for coming.
Churches Will Share Property In A New ‘Condo’ Worship Center
A 65-foot tower will rise from the middle of a new worship center being built in Orange County, California. A baptismal pool at the base of the tower will be shared by as many as five churches.
Its designers call the multichurch complex a “condominium” approach. Architects William Davis and Al Dunhaime say the Irvine, California, worship center might be the first such approach to church facilities in the United States.
Plans call for building five church sanctuaries on a 10-acre plot. Several years passed before five congregations agreed to share facilities on the site. And one of those churches bowed out before construction began recently.
The four remaining churches will move in before the end of the year, if construction goes as planned. University Community Church, affiliated with the American Baptist Churches, and the Irvine Assembly of God Church were interested in the project from the start. Bethel Korean Church and First Chinese Baptist Church also plan to move into the $3.5-million complex.
The five church sanctuaries will be identical on the outside. But each congregation will design its own interior. Classrooms and a fellowship hall are planned for a later stage of construction.
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