Week 2

This week I drafted an endorsement form to send to churches. This was interesting for me because I had to write about immigration in religious language. I had to make a case for why immigration policy falls within the realm of religion and is something that churches and clergy should care about. I used resources from people and organizations that have already tried to do this, such as a proposal at the last Minneapolis ELCA Synod Assembly and the language used in sermon's and available on several organizations' websites. It made a lot of sense to me to that immigration is a religious matter and besides my convictions, there are many texts, Christian and otherwise, that support that. That makes me hopeful that if I decide to go to seminary, I will still be able to be involved in the movement for immigrant rights. The first letter I wrote used ecumenical language, drawing from the Bible and Qu'ran and other texts. However, after further consideration, I decided to write another letter that only uses Christian language. I talked to a couple people who thought it might alienate conservative clergy if I use ecumenical language. This seems true in my experience, so I wrote another one. The church is big part of shaping and perpetuating people's view of the world. I think I need to figure out what views I will be expected to perpetuate and whether that will compromise my beliefs before I pursue a career in the church.