Judson Phillips, founder of Tea Party Nation, has a dream of “no more United Methodist Church.” That’s right, Phillips, who says he was raised in the Methodist Church until he learned it was “little more than the first Church of Karl Marx,” was incensed that the United Methodist Building (known to locals as “the God box”) on Capitol Hill had a sign supporting the DREAM Act. (h/t Religion News Service).
“After all,” Phillips adds, “what can you say about a church that considers Hillary Clinton to be a member in good standing?”
Phillips goes on to call the church “the religious arm of socialism” because it supports “illegal immigration” and “socialist health care;” in sum, “a socialist wish list.”
After the Senate failed to break the Republican filibuster of the DREAM Act on Saturday, the UMC’s General Board of Church and Society put out the following statement from Bishop Minerva Carcaño of the Desert Southwest Conference:
Though the Senate failed to supply the necessary leadership to provide humane and effective solutions to the badly broken immigration system, the DREAM Act students have shown themselves to be our leaders not only for tomorrow, but for today as well.
These are students who desire nothing less than to serve their country – the only country many of them have ever known. Though the Senate slammed the door of opportunity shut in the faces of these young people, DREAM Act students have shown they refuse to be held back.
Their passion is a witness to people of faith and we as United Methodists will continue to educate and mobilize ourselves and others until Congress finally does what is right. Today we stand with the DREAM Act students and tomorrow we will continue the struggle until Congress recognizes the contributions and leadership of our immigrant sisters and brothers.
A veritable communist manifesto, right? But here’s Phillips: “In short,” he concludes, “if you hate America, you have a great future in the Methodist church.”
