Woke activists are attacking a Palatine, Illinois, church for an innocent message posted on its sign. While critics say the sign is mean-spirited or insensitive, the pastor refuses to back down. Despite attacks from woke activists, the church’s leader insists that the sign had a purely spiritual message. This story highlights the debate over Trump’s immigration policy.
“Heaven has strict immigration laws, Hell has open borders.” the sign read. “We want to be clear. We did not mention nor intend this sign to be about US immigration policy,” the church said. “We understand that immigration is a hot topic today and wanted to use that to turn people’s attention heavenward. We did not mention any country or any people group. We do not believe that all go to heaven and wanted the community to examine their relationship with Almighty God.”
They added, “People are getting triggered by the word ‘immigration.’ We took a stand on ‘immigration’ to heaven, not to the United States.’” However, some residents, such as the president of the Palatine Elementary District 15 school board, were unhappy. “It is unfortunate that a couple of phrases that some adults feel to be clever are posted in the face of many innocent schoolchildren having to ask parents, friends, and adults what they mean and why,” Lisa Beth Szczupaj said.
She added, “Pulling kids into the edginess and politics of the moment is absolutely inappropriate and causes real fear for our school-age children.” Katharine Huddleston echoed her sentiments, saying the sign was “really upsetting.” “I am proud to have spoken out against the hate your ‘church’ is spreading. Our community is one of love and acceptance, and signs like yours have no room here!” she posted to her Facebook.
She said, “Part of why we moved to Palatine was the diversity [and] being able to show our kids that everyone should have [the] opportunity to love each other, and seeing something like this is really upsetting.” Theresa Greinig said, “The messaging that I saw today is not the face of Palatine. It’s not our community; it’s not what it means to live here.”
However, according to Senior Pastor James Pittman Jr., the message is simple: “The immigration we were talking about is very clear in the sign: Heaven and Hell. And our message is very clear, the scriptures are clear, not everybody makes it to Heaven.” This is similar to a case where Transfiguration Catholic Church in Oakdale, MN took down a controversial sign. Church leaders say that the message was posted the evening of Friday, Jan. 10, and “made reference to a specific demographic of people in a way that fails to adequately account for the Catholic Church’s teachings on the dignity of the human person.”
The message read, “Drag queen free since 1953.” The Church apologized for the message and clarified that it was taken down immediately. It said it regrets the controversy it has caused “as it distracts from the parish’s mission to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Leaders said, “We firmly hold that all people are made in the image of God, and this innate dignity is to be respected at all times, even when serious disagreements emerge.”
They concluded, “Transfiguration is resolved to ensure such an incident does not occur in the future so that nobody ever feels again that our parish and school are unavailable for their spiritual and pastoral care.” Father Nate Meyers acknowledged that the sign was posted “briefly” on Friday. In an email, he explained that it was posted without his knowledge and that he learned about it when someone called to complain.