August 1, 2011; Source: The Georgia Bulletin | On July 18, NPQ wrote about nonprofits scrambling in the wake of a strict immigration law passed in Alabama. Now, immigrant rights supporters have been joined by the Roman Catholic Church. Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi, of Mobile, Alabama, along with Bishop Robert J. Baker of the Catholic Diocese of Birmingham, Bishop Henry N. Parsley Jr. of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama, and Methodist Bishop William H. Willimon filed a lawsuit on August 1 to protest the bill. In a letter of the same day, Rodi wrote to Catholics that the law would make “the exercise of our Christian religion” illegal. Other institutions, including The U.S. Justice Department, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the American Civil Liberties Union are using the courts to challenge what is the most stringent state immigration law proposed to date.—Kristin Barrali
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