Knowledge Center Issues

Many opportunities to engage in social action and education around civil and human rights issues are upcoming.

Appeal for unification of families, protection of fundamental rights and fixing broken system.

Network began as Hispanic ministries outreach of First United Methodist Church, Stephenville.

Paradoxically, some United Methodists criticize their own social action agency, even though it pursues what they told it to.

United Methodist congregations prominent in effort to keep immigrant families together.

Encourage members of Congress to keep families together this Christmas.

‘Loving Thy Neighbor’ cites local people of faith as major players in debate.

Scholarship funding for Central Conferences to focus on seminars about social principles, youth rehabilitation.

‘Loving Thy Neighbor’ cites local people of faith as major players in debate.

’Litany to End Hate’ calls for end of racist rhetoric of fear that ‘poisons communities.’

Wants stories shared with local churches about children affected by raids.

22 federal agencies contribute to data that illustrate both promises and difficulties confronting U.S.’s young people.

After living in the U.S. for nearly a decade, Maira Zelaya couldn’t survive an attempt to rejoin her family following deportation.

Interfaith coalition designates August as ‘Month of Action.’

Fundamentally not a national security issue, but rather human rights.

United Methodist to participate with bill’s sponsor, other faith leaders in discussion.

Summer interns drawn from 11 conferences, all jurisdictions.

Legislation would reunite more than 300,000 legal immigrants with their families.

Family Immigration
Background policy paper on family immigration.

Immigration Study
An excellent immigration study produced by the Desert Southwest Annual Conference.

Interfaith Comprehensive Immigration Reform Statement 
An Interfaith Immigration Statement signed by a number of faith groups in support of Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

Responding with Faith to Immigration
Participate in this 10-week campaign from Independence Day to Labor Day to raise awareness and commitment among Christians about the concerns of immigrants. 

American Friends Service Committee
The American Friends Service Committee has a page on Immigrants’ Rights that contains printable brochures, a link to a legislative blog, an events calendar and guides for discussion.

Interfaith Immigration Coalition
The Interfaith Immigration Coalition is a coalition of multiple faith groups, including the United Methodist Church, that is committed to enacting fair and humane immigration reform. Their web site contains resources such as the Interfaith Statement on Immigration Reform, alerts about upcoming events, links to educational resources and articles, and tools for advocacy on both the local and federal levels.

Justice for Immigrants
Catholic Web site for immigration ministries and good information.

Made in LA Study Guide

Made in LA is an Emmy award-winning film on the three-year experience of three immigrant women who stood up to exploitation in a Los Angeles sweatshop run by a trendy clothing retailer. The study guide is designed to help local congregations and other groups plan and hold special showings. It contains information on how to obtain a screening kit and provides a timeline for promoting a showing.

The United Methodist Task Force on Immigration has endorsed the powerful documentary for viewing by congregations as a means of introducing and promoting dialogue on issues of immigration and justice in the United States. Bishop Minerva Carcaño of Phoenix, Arizona, chair of the task force, says that the story in the film "beautifully illustrates the courage, perseverance, and strength that these women show daily in caring for their families, contributing to their communities, organizing to overcome exploitation, and building a life that is both inspiring and challenging."

National Immigration Forum
Web site for the National Immigration Forum, an immigrants' rights advocacy group. The web site contains updates on current legislation and resources for research as well as community action.

Night of 1,000 Conversations
www.nightof1000conversations.org is a website encouraging people to host conversations to discuss how the overreach of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is undermining the civil liberties and human rights of people living in America.

Sermon Resources for Immigration
Sojourners has put together some excellent resources for preaching and teaching on this important issues.

We Can Stop The Hate

An excellent resource to help shed light on hate speech, how it spreads, who is responsible for it and the myths it generates regarding immigrants.

www.wecanstopthehate.org

162 III. The Social Community

The rights and privileges a society bestows upon or withholds from those who comprise it indicate the relative esteem in which that society holds particular persons and groups of persons. We affirm all persons as equally valuable in the sight of God. We therefore work toward societies in which each person’s value is recognized, maintained, and strengthened. We support the basic rights of all persons to equal access to housing, education, communication, employment, medical care, legal redress for grievances, and physical protection. We deplore acts of hate or violence against groups or persons based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, or economic status. Our respect for the inherent dignity of all persons leads us to call for the recognition, protection, and implementation of the principles of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights so that communities and individuals may claim and enjoy their universal, indivisible, and inalienable rights.

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H. Rights of Immigrants

We recognize, embrace, and affirm all persons, regardless of country of origin, as members of the family of God. We affirm the right of all persons to equal opportunities for employment, access to housing, health care, education, and freedom from social discrimination. We urge the Church and society to recognize the gifts, contributions, and struggles of those who are immigrants and to advocate for justice for all.

164 The Political Community

While our allegiance to God takes precedence over our allegiance to any state, we acknowledge the vital function of government as a principal vehicle for the ordering of society. Because we know ourselves to be responsible to God for social and political life, we declare the following relative to governments:

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A. Basic Freedoms and Human Rights

We hold governments responsible for the protection of the rights of the people to free and fair elections and to the freedoms of speech, religion, assembly, communications media, and petition for redress of grievances without fear of reprisal; to the right to privacy; and to the guarantee of the rights to adequate food, clothing, shelter, education, and health care. The form and the leaders of all governments should be determined by exercise of the right to vote guaranteed to all adult citizens. We also strongly reject domestic surveillance and intimidation of political opponents by governments in power and all other misuses of elective or appointive offices. The use of detention and imprisonment for the harassment and elimination of political opponents or other dissidents violates fundamental human rights. Furthermore, the mistreatment or torture, and other cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment or punishment of persons by governments for any purpose violates Christian teaching and must be condemned and/or opposed by Christians and churches wherever and whenever it occurs.

The Church regards the institution of slavery, the practice and commission of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression as infamous and atrocious evils. Such evils are destructive of humanity, promote impunity, and therefore must be unconditionally prohibited by all governments and shall never be tolerated by the Church.

165 The World Community

God’s world is one world. The unity now being thrust upon us by technological revolution has far outrun our moral and spiritual capacity to achieve a stable world. The enforced unity of humanity, increasingly evident on all levels of life, presents the Church as well as all people with problems that will not wait for answer: injustice, war, exploitation, privilege, population, international ecological crisis, proliferation of arsenals of nuclear weapons, development of transnational business organizations that operate beyond the effective control of any governmental structure, and the increase of tyranny in all its forms. This generation must find viable answers to these and related questions if humanity is to continue on this earth. We commit ourselves as a Church to the achievement of a world community that is a fellowship of persons who honestly love one another. We pledge ourselves to seek the meaning of the gospel in all issues that divide people and threaten the growth of world community.

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