Rhode Island State Council of Churches joins in Lawsuit against Homeland Security regarding “Sensitive Locations”

It was in 1644 that Roger Williams, Rhode Island’s founding thinker, first penned the idea that a freedom of conscious and worship “be granted to all people in all nations and countries.”

Since 1937, the Rhode Island State Council of Churches has continued the work of protecting religious freedom while living into our fundamental faith commitments: advocating for the voiceless and resourcing our communities to do the work of justice, love, and peace.

Our advocacy is grounded in our response to God’s grace, a call found at the intersection of our love for God and our love for neighbor, expressed in our obligation to the stranger and the dispossessed.

It is in our commitment to extravagant hospitality and the embrace of the refugee.

It is in the understanding that God’s table is a table open to all – no papers required.

Daily we are surrounded by fear-based thinking, by theological and political narratives that have distorted our moral thinking and have undermined our democratic commitments.

In light of this reality, we must ask ourselves the same question that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. asked a weary nation many decades ago:

Will we choose to be extremists for hate or extremists for love?

Today, we choose democracy.

Today, we choose freedom.

Today, we choose love.

We’re proud to join a multi-faith coalition and the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP) in opposition to the rescission of ICE’s sensitive locations policy, which is a direct violation of the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

This decision directly interferes with our ability to fulfill our religious mandate and serve all of our congregants equally and with the dignity they deserve. We don’t take this step lightly, but this extreme action from the federal government challenges a foundation of our faith and threatens to shatter our consecrated spaces. Our faith compels us to take a stand and protect our places of worship.

Read more about the lawsuit and other plaintiffs joining us in this action.