latimes: In Alabama, a church sees its Latino...

latimes:

In Alabama, a church sees its Latino brethren vanish: Since the state passed its tough immigration law, many are moving elsewhere. At one Southern Baptist church, white members struggle to reconcile their support for the measure with compassion for their fellow Christians.

In an hour, the sanctuary would fill with the church’s white members, nearly all of them conservatives and most supporters of Republican Gov. Robert J. Bentley, the Southern Baptist deacon who championed the law as the nation’s toughest after signing it in September.

For more than a decade, however, the white Southern Baptists in this small country church have opened their doors, wallets and hearts to a group of Latino strangers who appeared among them suddenly one Sunday, desperate for a place to pray.

They hired a bilingual pastor, launched a countywide “Hispanic mission,” and let their children play side by side with the newcomers’ kids on field trips and in summer camps. They knew or suspected that many of them were here illegally.

This is fascinating.

Photo: Pastor Randy Billingsley sits with children for a short story as part of the English service at Riverside Heights Baptist Church in Tallassee, Ala. Latino families attend a Spanish-language service in another room. Credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

Very interesting. Political beliefs interfering with religious beliefs at the core of the church. How do you spread the love of God to all people, when you apply harsh societal laws?

Reminds me of how lepers were forced out of communities and how Jesus did not also neglect them, but instead healed them and made steps to re-integrate them into the community.

Los Angeles Times