February 26 — The Church and Immigration: What Would Jesus Do?
For an idea of what Jesus would do about illegal immigration, just read the New Testament. Pretty doubtful he’d be talking about evicting the poor and vulnerable. Of course some might say it’s also doubtful Christ would be considered a Christian today. Maybe a diverse panel of religious and political leaders can help make sense of this puzzlement.
When: Tuesday, February 26, 7:00-9:00PM
Where: Shelton Auditorium at Christian Theological Seminary, 1000 West 42nd Street, Indianapolis.
This community forum will focus on Immigration policy in Indiana from a faith perspective. Panel members invited and confirmed to attend include State Senator Mike Delph (R-Carmel), Mr. Allen Taylor, Director of Hoosiers for Secure Borders, the Rev. Samuel Ruiz, Lutheran Multicultural Mission, Indianapolis and Father Tom Fox, O.F.M., Hispanic Ministry, Archdiocese of Indianapolis. The panel discussion will be moderated by the Rev. Mmoja Ajabu, of Light of the World Christian Church, Indianapolis. There will be time scheduled for questions and comments from the audience.
Know before you go … Beliefnet provides a handy Faith-by-Faith Guide to Immigration. A view that God would be helping build a wall to keep brown people out of the US can be found here. A view that’s closer to the way the Bible seems to read can be found here.
If this sounds like an interesting event, be sure to check out …
- March 1 — The Indiana Consortium of International Programs (ICIP) conference “The US in the World: Global Issues the Candidates and the Electorate Should Be Talking About” will include a talk by Steve Jones of IUPUI on “Immigration and US-Mexico relations.” Jones will also speak to the Indiana Council on World Affairs about Latin America on March 11, the issue of immigration is likely to arise. Provocate’s John Clark talks about the same topic at the Church of the Saviour February 27.
- March 8 — Giles Hoyt will give another invaluable discussion of German Immigration to Indiana.
- March 19-22 — The 2nd Annual International Interfaith Symposium on “Faith, Civil Society, and International Relations” will have several discussions of immigration and the increasingly diverse composition of our communities.
- March 20 — Immigration: A “Present” Perspective will be the second in the Indiana Historical Society’s townhall series on immigration.
- April 4-5 — The Indianapolis Peace Institute’s workshop on Crisis in Burma, impact in Indiana will focus on the large community of refugees from Burma now living in Indiana.
- April 17 — Immigration: A “Future” Perspective will be the third and final townhall discussion hosted by the Indiana Historical Society.
- April 22 — The Statewide Multi-Ethnic Conference will provide a multi-faceted picture of immigration to Indiana
- April 23 to May 2 — Indianapolis International Film Festival will have many films about crossing borders, including “La Americana,” about an undocumented mother working in NYC to support a sick daughter in Bolivia who she cannot see.
- May 28 — Provocate’s John Clark will try to tie together all these issues in a talk about “Why Indianapolis needs its own foreign policy”
