“Sanctuary cities” have been in the headlines for weeks.
Late last week, the House of Representatives voted to strip federal funds from sanctuary cities, which refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts.
And in early July, an illegal immigrant who had been deported five times and convicted of seven felonies shot and killed a young woman while she was walking with her father and a friend along a pier in San Francisco, a city famous for its sanctuary policies.Sanctuary cities have existed for decades – the first one was established in Los Angeles in 1979 – as places of asylum for refugees and others in the country illegally.
By one count, there are more than 200 sanctuary cities in 32 states and the District of Columbia.
The recent San Francisco murder has prompted renewed scrutiny of sanctuary cities.
But while most of the debate has focused on the legal and political ramifications, I’d like to offer the following thought experiment: what if there were sanctuary cities for religious conservatives?
Imagine if some city in red-state America – perhaps Little Rock, Arkansas; Dallas, Texas; or Bowling Green, Kentucky – decided to be a refuge for unborn children and refused to grant business licenses to abortion clinics.
What if a city decided that it was going to be a sanctuary city for the Ten Commandments and displayed them in schools, libraries, and the county courthouse?
What if a city decided that it was important for children to have mothers and fathers, declared itself a sanctuary city for traditional marriage, and refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples...?
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