When people of faith, any faith, are active in good things, serving others with compassion, I think seculars should notice and applaud … and even join the efforts.

I think of it as stepping into the various streams of humanity in respect for the common river.

This is “acting in good faith,” in the best sense of that phrase.

Religion News Service carried this story of interfaith networks actively responding to immigrants.

“The group informally call themselves the Sanctuary Working Group (SWG), and they are an interfaith network made up of both organizations and individuals, aging leftists and social workers, immigration lawyers and nuns. They are a seemingly tireless bunch of movers and shakers, all of them committed to immigration justice because of their personal religious values, although the meaning of those values may vary between belief systems.”

“Often when I speak to liberal-leaning folks about my work, there is a knowing nod of agreement. Immigration reform is a necessity, we all know. When I say I work with religious groups — mostly Judeo-Christian groups, and lately a lot of Catholic sisters — there is some hesitancy. Some assume religious work is usually conservative, that its purpose is evangelizing above all else, and that the “dangers” involved with religious affiliations are not worth it.

I am here to tell you that while some on the Christian right continue to be swayed by xenophobia, at this very moment religious organizations are doing some of the most grassroots, radical, hard work there is to welcome the afflicted. They do it with grace and grit, they work across political and religious differences, and they have been doing it for decades.

My hope is that we acknowledge their work, fund their efforts without fear and help nuance the narrative about religion’s place in our nation.”