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Meanwhile, Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago is housing Elvira Arellano, an illegal immigrant from Mexico whose son is a U.S. citizen. "It seemed like a good option to give her a holy space to continue a campaign of civil disobedience against an unfair law that is separating families throughout this country," explained pastor Walter Coleman, who banned opponents from attending his church's services. "I fear God much more than I fear Homeland Security."

"Faith provides no warrant to break laws just because we disapprove of them," Northwestern University law professor Steven Lubet responded in the Chicago Tribune. Coleman, he argued, is no heir to abolitionist minister Theodore Parker, who offered sanctuary to escaped slaves. "As sympathetic as we might be to Elvira Arellano's plight, there is no natural human right to enter or remain in the United States, or to live in one country as opposed to another."

Some congregations in Canada (where offering sanctuary is common enough that the United Church of Canada has a guidebook warning how difficult it can be) have stronger cases. In 2003, a church took in an Iranian Pentecostal after an immigration judge denied that Christian converts in Iran face persecution. The Iranian wasn't a real Christian anyway, the judge said, since she could name only one sacrament.

Another Canadian church is offering sanctuary to a Shi'a Muslim family from Pakistan, saying a judge was wrong to claim that Shiites do not face persecution in the country (which is 90 percent Sunni). "Since Canada abolished capital punishment, this refugee and immigration process is the only process left in our legal system where we might actually be sending people into their death or a very dangerous situation with no recourse," pastor Barb Janes told the CBC.

In other words, sanctuary properly understood is not about protest, but about offering refuge and help. Medieval churches providing sanctuary didn't argue that the broken laws were unjust or that sanctuary seekers were heroes. They just wanted to save lives, show grace, and offer room for repentance. Sanctuary as political protest undermines the moral authority that it invokes, for it is just a form of hospitality to like-minded allies. "If you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others?" someone once asked. "Do not even pagans do that?"

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In August, a Slate "Explainer" asked, "Can Criminals Hide in Church?"

Mark Tooley of the Institute on Religion and Democracy argued in The American Spectator that "sanctuary is chic again," but that it is "usually championed by well-heeled liberal elites hunting about for a politically palatable cause du jour.

A shorter version of this column originally ran in the October 2006 print edition of Christianity Today. The column "Tidings" was formerly called "Weblog in Print." Earlier columns by Ted Olsen include:

We're Not Spectators | Mideast Christians writing for our website expressed their anguish—and anger. (Aug. 28, 2006)

Latter-day Complaints | Mormons and evangelicals fret over movies, politics, and each other. (Jul. 6, 2006)

Peace, Peace | From the front page to the obits, one day's news about Christian peacemaking. (Apr. 18, 2006)

The Art of Abortion Politics | A unanimous Supreme Court decision opens the door to real change. (Feb. 20, 2006)

Time to Get Judicially Serious | Evangelicals and the possible Supreme Court Catholic majority. (Dec. 28, 2005)

The Katrina Quandary | America questions the role of Christian charity. (Oct. 20, 2005)

Abolishing Abstinence | Telling underage kids not to have sex is surprisingly controversial (Aug. 24, 2005)

Dirty Qur'ans, Dusty Bibles | If Leviticus or Jude suddenly disappeared from Scripture, would we notice? (June 20, 2005)

Who's Driving This Thing? | Everyone is asking who leads the evangelical movement. (Feb. 21, 2005)

Bad Believers, Non-Believers | Do religious labels really mean anything? (Oct. 19, 2004)

Pro-Abortion Madness | The abortion lobby has abandoned its rationales amid pro-life gains. (Aug. 17, 2004)

Grave Images | The photos from Abu Ghraib have reopened debate on the power of pictures.

Misfires in the Tolerance Wars | Separating church and state now means separating belief and action (Feb. 24, 2004)

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October 2006, Vol. 50, No. 10