What would Jesus say about Baltimore’s policy toward immigrants?

I would like to thank the Rev. Michael T. Buttner for his recent letter to the editor (“How to fix Baltimore’s problems in five steps,” Aug. 29). We, who live in the city, are apparently lost in a state of iniquity that we cannot seem to escape. Certainly a moral directive from a Forest Hill minister will lead us to the Promised Land.

Actually, I grew up in Forest Hill and attended church there with my family. In my Forest Hill church, there were interminable sermons in which our preacher attempted to graphically illustrate to me and others the awful suffering that awaited should I not submit to the church’s teachings. I recall getting little to no information about Christ’s advocacy for the poor and downtrodden. Our congregation, of course, never had an African American member during the years I was forced to attend services there. Nor did I ever witness any effort on the part of our minister to reach out to the truly needy in our community.

When I started school there, at Forest Hill Elementary, Harford County schools were segregated. The county needed to build a school for the African American children, but my Forest Hill pastor at that time organized a petition drive in the church to prevent the school from being built near the church even though the site was a mile away. Fortunately, our church failed to influence the county’s decision and Central Consolidated was eventually built.

Finally, the irony of being told by Reverend Buttner that Baltimore should “stop being an open, welcoming city” would be unfathomable to anyone who truly follows the teachings of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, having grown up in such a culture as this clergyman would seem to represent, I am sadly not surprised at all.

Joseph James, Baltimore