Religion and Social Justice For Immigrants
Religion and Social Justice For Immigrants
Religion has jumped into the sphere of global and domestic politics in ways that few would have imagined a century ago. Some expected that religion would die as modernity flourished. Instead, it now stares at us almost daily from the front pages of newspapers and television broadcasts. Although it is usually stories about the Christian Right or conservative Islam that grab headlines, there are many religious activists of other political persuasions that are working quietly for social justice. This book examines how religious immigrants and religious activists are working for equitable treatment for immigrants in the United States.
The essays in this book analyze the different ways in which organized religion provides immigrants with an arena for mobilization, civic participation, and solidarity. Contributors explore topics including how non-Western religious groups such as the Vietnamese Caodai are striving for community recognition and addressing problems such as racism, economic issues, and the politics of diaspora; how interfaith groups organize religious people into immigrant civil rights activists at the U.S.–Mexican border; and how Catholic groups advocate governmental legislation and policies on behalf of refugees.
This timely volume is the first social science analysis to focus on the influence of religion on social justice issues for immigrants.
PART I Diverse Approaches to Faith and Social Justice for Immigrants
1 Religion and a Standpoint Theory of Immigrant Social Justice / PIERRETTE HONDAGNEU-SOTELO
2 Liberalism, Religion, and the Dilemma of Immigrant Rights in American Political Culture / RHYS H. WILLIAMS
PART II Religion, Civic Engagement, and Immigrant Politics
3 The Moral Minority: Race, Religion, and Conservative Politics in Asian America / JANELLE S. WONG WITH JANE NAOMI IWAMURA
4 Finding Places in the Nation: Immigrant and Indigenous Muslims in America / KAREN LEONARD
5 Faith-Based, Multiethnic Tenant Organizing: The Oak Park Story / RUSSELL JEUNG
6 Bringing Mexican Immigrants into American Faith-Based Social Justice and Civic Cultures / JOSEPH M. PALACIOS
PART III Faith, Fear, and Fronteras: Challenges at the U.S.-Mexico Border
7 The Church vs. the State: Borders, Migrants, and Human Rights / JACQUELINE MARIA HAGAN
8 Serving Christ in the Borderlands: Faith Workers Respond to Border Violence / CECILIA MENJIVAR
9 Religious Reenactment on the Line: A Genealogy of Political Religious Hybridity / PIERRETTE HONDAGNEU-SOTELO, GENELLE GAUDINEZ, AND HECTOR LARA
PART IV Faith-Based Nongovernmental Organizations
10 Welcoming the Stranger: Constructing an Interfaith Ethic of Refuge / STEPHANIE J. NAWYN
11 The Catholic Church's Institutional Responses to Immigration: From Supranational to Local Engagement / MARGARITA MOONEY
PART V Theology, Redemption, and Justice
12 Beyond Ethnic and National Imagination: Toward a Catholic Theology of U.S. Immigration / GIOACCHINO CAMPESE
13 Caodai Exile and Redemption: A New Vietnamese Religion's Struggle for Identity / JANET HOSKINS
References
Notes on Contributors
Index
