One Family Under God: Immigration Politics and Progressive Religion in America - Hardcover

Yukich, Grace

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199988668 ISBN 13: 9780199988662

Publisher: OUP USA, 2013

Synopsis

Behind the walls of a church, Liliana and her baby eat, sleep, and wait. Outside, protestors shout "Go back to Mexico!" and "Tax this political church!" They demand that the U.S. government deport Liliana, which would separate her from her husband and children. Is Liliana a criminal or a hero? And why does the church protect her? Grace Yukich draws on extensive field observation and interviews to reveal how immigration is changing religious activism in the U.S. In the face of nationwide immigration raids and public hostility toward "illegal" immigration, the New Sanctuary Movement emerged in 2007 as a religious force seeking to humanize the image of undocumented immigrants like Liliana. Building coalitions between religious and ethnic groups that had rarely worked together in the past, activists revived and adapted "sanctuary," the tradition of providing shelter for fugitives in houses of worship. Through sanctuary, they called on Americans to support legislation that would keep immigrant families together. But they sought more than political change: they also pursued religious transformation, challenging the religious nationalism in America's faith communities by portraying undocumented immigrants as fellow children of God. Yukich shows progressive religious activists struggling with the competing goals of newly diverse coalitions, fighting to expand the meaning of "family values" in a globalizing nation. Through these struggles, the activists both challenged the public dominance of the religious right and created conflicts that could doom their chances of impacting immigration reform.

About this title

Review:

A timely and highly readable book...it is hard to find much to criticize in this volume...It will likely become the standard work on the New Sanctuary Movement. (Sociology of Religion)

A timely and important contribution...an ideal text for use in undergraduate and graduate courses. (Mobilization)

Fascinating and well-documented One Family Under God is a fine book that effectively details the origins and early years of the New Sanctuary movement. (Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion)

Grace Yukich points to patterns and trends as she explains tensions and controversies woven into factual narratives of anguish, intolerance, and transformation. Her inquiry should motivate any whose faith makes this daring demand: Partners with the oppressed, respect people you disagree with, and treat strangers as family, under God. (Liguorian)

The rich narrative examines the influence of religion on a multitarget social movement and provides new insights into the interplay of religion, activism, and immigration policies. Summing Up: Recommended. (CHOICE)

About the Author:

Assistant Professor of Sociology, Quinnipiac University

About this edition

• Publisher: OUP USA
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0199988668
• ISBN 13: 9780199988662
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304