Faithful split on Trump, refugees

Some texts say to embrace ‘strangers’ while others suggest government must protect its people

The attitude of the Trump administration toward illegal immigration and refugees -- with its threat of mass deportation, construction of a border wall and the order banning refugees from some Muslim countries -- has created the potential for moral confusion and debate among those who profess religion, especially given Scripture verses like this from Leviticus: "You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt."

Treat strangers like Christ

Jesus was a refugee, said the Rev. Mark Begly, pastor of Our Mother of Sorrows Catholic parish in Johnstown, formerly pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church in Lakemont, speaking of the holy family's flight from Herod into Egypt.

Immigration is complex, but President Donald Trump "paints with a very broad brush," causing many Americans "to become isolationists and a little xenophobic," Begly said.

Begly sides with the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, who stated that "a rich body of church teaching (has determined that it is) our moral obligation to treat the stranger as we would treat Christ."

"Of course it's right to secure our borders," Begly conceded. He wouldn't want to see those borders opened for those who have committed serious crimes, he said. But for those seeking a better life, "for people of good will," there needs to be a way.

"To come legally into the U.S. for a poor, desperate person looking for a new life is all but impossible," he said. "Maybe the laws need to be changed."

And the idea of shipping back all the millions of undocumented people already here is "absurd and immoral," he said.

Protection from terrorists

Trump's policies are valid, because they're only one part of a dichotomy, according to the Rev. Gary Dull, pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Altoona.

"On the one hand, there is the individual Christian's responsibility, and on the other hand, the government's," Dull said.

There's blessing and even an obligation for individuals to reach out and help immigrants in God's name, Dull said.

But it's different for the government, which has an obligation to protect its people, he said, citing Romans, Chapter 13, which states, "Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. … For the one in authority is God's servant for your good."

In keeping with that Biblical advice, U.S. government leaders are trying to protect us from terrorists associated with groups like the Islamic State, which hate our nation and may try to embed themselves into its fabric to destroy it, Dull said. So it's appropriate "to be very, very cautious and to make sure there's a strong vetting process," Dull said.

Providing 'safe space'

The Rev. Drew McCaffery of Bethany Lutheran Church in Altoona has his thoughts about the administration's attitude toward foreigners and his faith.

But he declined to share them with the Mirror, because members of his congregation are on both sides of the issue, just as the Lutheran Church is "struggling" with it, McCaffery said.

His strategy is to give a "safe space" for each member of his congregation to speak his or her mind.

On one side are scriptures that call for welcoming the stranger, and on the other side is the terrorism that we all read about, as well as the general preference that we support our elected leader, McCaffery said.

It's never clear whether an immigrant may be coming for a better life or to inflict a "horrible situation," McCaffery said.

Scripture can justify both sides of many arguments, he said. McCaffery adopted his neutral strategy for controversial issues based on his training at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, where a senior pastor advised him that when you start mixing your political views with your religious teachings from the pulpit, it can divide the congregation -- giving ammunition for those who can claim, "even the pastor says I'm right" to those who disagree.

He aims neither to antagonize nor belittle, he said.

Trump policies unfair

Trump's policies are unfair, said the Rev. Andrew Matychak, pastor of SS. Peter and Paul Orthodox Church on the 2000 block of 13th Avenue.

"I see no reason to keep a whole segment of society out just because of a few radicals," Matychak said. "Muslims are one of the most religious and kind (groups)."

"I don't think it's good for us to live in fear," he added. Immigration has made "this country great and wonderful." His grandparents were from Poland and Czechoslovakia, he said.

Against national principles

Asked whether the Trump administration's attitude toward immigrants is at odds with his Muslim faith, local Dr. Mohammad Dowlut said it's at odds with principles that underlay the founding of the nation -- principles based not on the tenets of a particular religion but on the idea that the government should allow all religions to be practiced freely.

That approach stemmed from the experiences of those founders and their families who had come to the New World to escape religious persecution in Europe, Dowlut said.

The Trump administration's blackballing of Muslims is "un-American" and doesn't make sense, anyway, as very few Muslims in the U.S. have caused trouble, Dowlut said. They and Muslims throughout the world have been living with the unfair burden of "a bad name" caused by the minority of their co-religionists who have committed hostile acts, he said.

Follow the rules

Trump isn't being unfair, according to Eileen Snyder, secretary of St. John's Reformed Church in Hollidaysburg, which currently lacks a permanent pastor.

Rather, he's setting policies that seek to minimize the risk of "atrocities" like those of 9/11, she said. Immigrants can still come here, she said.

They just need to come "in the legal way," she said. "Become citizens, earn a wage and pay a tax," she said.

"It's not a case of not wanting (immigrants)," Snyder said. "It's more a case of (not allowing them) if they're not abiding by our rules."

On a learning curve

"I hope the administration is on a learning curve," said Pastor Evelyn Madison of Wehnwood United Methodist Church.

While the nation needs to follow processes established for orderly immigration, and there's a legitimate debate whether it's best to help people "where they are," or to admit them to our nation, it's wrong to "set policies that automatically exclude certain people on the basis of faith or ethnicity or any of those categories," she said.

The Bible teaches us to care for "the widow, the orphans and the aliens in our midst," Madison said. "Those who have no voice," she added.

'Diversity is wonderful'

For two local representatives of the Jewish faith who attended the recent opening get-together at the Altoona Jewish Film Festival, there's no confusion or debate.

Given their history as wanderers among the nations, many of which didn't welcome them -- and especially given the Holocaust -- how can Jews not favor the immigrants' side in this debate, asked Dr. Leonard Zimmerman, who is Jewish.

Zimmerman had grandparents who immigrated to the U.S. in the early 20th century, and his wife can tell a similar story -- one typical of almost all members of the Jewish community here, he said.

The get-together itself is a counterpoint to the administration's attitude toward foreigners mixing with Americans -- as there were probably more Christians than Jews chatting together at tables scattered throughout the first floor of the Heritage Discovery Center, for an event originally conceived as serving primarily the Jewish community, according to Zimmerman.

"The diversity is wonderful," he said.

The ascent of Trump seems to have given vent to an anti-Semitism that has always been here, under the surface, according to Zimmerman.

He spoke about "white supremacists on computers at night."

The current administration seems to have given such people and the organizations they represent license to "exhibit their hate without fear of condemnation," said Neil Port, who also attended the get-together.

"A lot of the bad guys who used to hide under a rock," Port said.