Freedom to Worship

Here is an email sent out by our pastor:

Hello everyone,

Newberg Friends founded and has partnered with the Newberg Latino Friends Church for almost 30 years. Angel Diaz, their pastor, has asked for our help over the next few Sundays after an incident that occurred last Sunday.
Illegal immigration has been in the news often, and is a significant issue in the Latino church. Angel regularly teaches the congregation to obey the laws of this country, and to work toward obtaining legal status.
Last Sunday, a van from the department of immigration parked right outside the church as the service ended. Angel (who is a legal immigrant) and another member went out to try to talk with the officials in the van. The van left without talking with them, but simply circled the block and then returned. To the people in the church, it felt like intimidation. No arrests or any type of contact was made.
Regardless of our beliefs about this complicated issue, freedom to worship is a fundamental right in our country. There are many other avenues the department of immigration has to enforce the laws of our land, including job sites and residences. Making it difficult for Latinos to worship, in my opinion, goes too far.
Angel is concerned that many of his members will not feel safe attending church. He asked if 4 or 5 anglos would be willing to be present outside the church between 10 and 10:30 as people are arriving for worship, and from 11:45 to 12:15 as people are leaving. The purpose would be to encourage our Latino brothers and sisters, and if immigration makes an appearance again, to politely ask if they would allow people the freedom to worship without being hindered by our government.
I listened with several others in our Yearly Meeting today as Angel told several stories about the difficulty people in his congregation have had trying to follow the process the law outlines for legal status. There are cases in the Newberg church that lawyers have led through the correct legal process, yet families are still separated (Newberg and Mexico) because our system is still subject to different personal interpretations of the law by immigration officials. People from our church and from our Yearly Meeting are contacting government officials and other Christian organizations to find ways that we can help those who can get legal status to do so, and to find ways to educate and help our Latino brothers and sisters.

We will be serving this church for the next three Sunday's and more if needed. Regardless of your views on immigration issues, everyone has the right to worship freely and without fear, and we ask that you join us in prayer for this church community, for the people who want to help without confrontation, for Angel to lead the church through fear they may be feeling, and for God's peace, comfort and justice to be felt by all.