Salt Lake City’s First Unitarian Church is giving sanctuary to a young Honduran mother facing deportation. Tuesday, we’re talking about sanctuary and the tension between moral conscience and the law.
In January, Vicky Chavez was facing deportation to her native Honduras. Chavez is mother to two young girls and had fled domestic violence at home. So, instead of the airport, she went to Salt Lake City’s First Unitarian Church. The congregation was offering her sanctuary. That kind of protection is an ancient idea associated with holy places from Greece and Rome to Medieval Europe. Tuesday, we’re talking about sanctuary - how it was understood in the past, and how it’s being practiced today.
Guests:
- Norman Jones is a Professor of History at Utah State University.
- John Fife was a co-founder of the Sanctuary Movement in the 1980s, and is Pastor Emeritus at Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson, Arizona
Watch our short film with Vicky Chavez, and see other RadioWest shorts at films.radiowest.org
