Posted on February 22, 2006

Churches Out of Step, Tancredo Says

M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News (Denver), Feb. 22, 2006

WASHINGTON — Rep. Tom Tancredo has accused leaders of some of the country’s biggest religious denominations of being out of step with their own followers on the issue of illegal immigration.

Tancredo, a Littleton Republican, released a statement Tuesday blasting the U.S. Catholic Church, Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, United Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society for lobbying against a border-enforcement bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives last year.

“The faith community must step forward and tell leftist activists that undermining border security is not a religious imperative,” Tancredo said.

“I call on the conservative majority of churchgoers to contact the activists who are misrepresenting their beliefs.”

Various religious groups have lined up against the House-passed bill, which calls for building a fence along portions of the U.S.-Mexico border, plus tougher enforcement against illegal immigrants and those who employ them.

The Washington, D.C., office of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) issued an alert to members saying, “This enforcement-only bill is anti-immigrant, unfair, and unjust.”

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