Bishop Bjornberg responds
on immigration issue

A commentary in the July 6 Denver Post by the Most Reverend Charles J. Chaput, Catholic archbishop of Denver, and the Most Reverend Bishop Michael J. Sheridan, Catholic bishop of Colorado Springs, states: "We need to resist proposals that emphasize enforcement at the expense of real reform. Punishing criminals is justice. That's a good thing. But turning poor people who seek a dignified existence for their families into criminals in order to punish them is not justice. It's both foolish and wrong. We fully support security policies that target real threats to our peace. But that should not require that we push further into the shadows some of the very workers who are strengthening and building our country." Read the full text of this commentary in the Denver Post

Bishop Allan Bjornberg's response follows:

We are grateful to Archbishop Charles J. Chaput and Bishop Michael J. Sheridan for their articulate call to higher ground in the immigration debate among Colorado legislators.

Goodwill, as the Bishops suggest, can indeed help us all avoid enforcement at the expense of real reform. Moreover, we must resist the urge to caricature every immigrant as a projection of our fears, which will only draw us in to the maelstrom of inhumanity we project on others. Many, many immigrants come to this country seeking relief from a variety of dehumanizing realities, only a few of which legally qualify them for official asylum. The tendency to scapegoat is the darkest side of partisan politics, and risks the sacrifice of countless lives to self-serving interests.

Immigration, refugee, and asylum policies express who we are as a nation, influence the nation’s future character, and affect the lives of millions of people. Our debate must take into account the complexity of issues, the diversity of interests, and the relative justice of laws at the same time that it counters appeals rooted in hostility, racism, prejudice, indifference, and simplistic solutions.

We join the Bishops in their call to common sense and good policy. Let decency and the common good prevail, for all who have the inalienable human right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Bishop Allan Bjornberg,
Rocky Mountain Synod
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

also signed by...
Presiding Elder Andrew Simpson
African Methodist Episcopal

Rev Ronald Parker
Regional Minister
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Rev. Janet Schlenker
Stated Clerk, Denver
Presbyterian Church (USA)

Rev Dan Saperstein
Executive Presbyter, Plains and Peaks
Presbyterian Church (USA)

Elder Lillie Brock
Metropolitan Community Churches

Rev. Tom Rehling
Conference Minister
United Church of Christ

Bishop Warner Brown
United Methodist

Rev James Ryan
Colorado Council of Churches

Sr. Maureen McCormack
The Interfaith Alliance of Colorado