Illinois church under fire for controversial sign about open borders, immigration

A church in Illinois has caused a stir after putting up a sign about illegal immigration and open borders. Liberals are having a meltdown over the sign, even vilifying the black pastor as a “white supremacist.”

The New Hope Community Church is located in Palatine, Illinois, roughly 30 miles northwest of Chicago.

‘People are getting triggered by the word “immigration.”‘

On Feb. 5, the church featured a new sign that read: “Heaven Has Strict Immigration Laws. Hell Has Open Borders.”

Pastor James Pittman noted that there was no controversy about the sign for the first “six days it was up” until “someone got wind of it.”

Local news outlets ran stories about the sign and then CNN reportedly requested an interview.

Pittman told WLS-TV, “Immigration is a topic in the communities, so what we’ve been doing on our sign for quite some time is take what’s going on in the community and turn it towards heaven.”

Pittman said he is open to having conversations about the sign’s message.

“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,” Pittman stated.

Pittman addressed the alleged controversy in a 14-minute video.

The New Hope Community Church issued a statement on its official Facebook page that read:

We want to be clear concerning this sign. We did not mention nor intended this sign to be about US immigration policy. 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. People are getting triggered by the word ‘immigration.’ We took a stand on ‘immigration’ to heaven, not to the United States. Are we not free to use the word immigration on a church post?

However, some in the Palatine community are up in arms about the church’s sign.

“Part of why we moved to Palatine was the diversity being able to show our kids that, and everyone should have opportunity, and love each other, and seeing something like this is really upsetting,” said Palatine resident Katharine Huddleston.

Lisa Beth Szczupaj — president of the Palatine Elementary District 15 school board — told the Daily Herald, “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. Pulling kids into the edginess and politics of the moment is absolutely inappropriate and causes real fear for our school-age children.”

Resident Theresa Greinig added, “I couldn’t quite believe that that was a message going out in my community.”

Greinig told WLS that she is mobilizing the community to create “signs of positivity” to place around the New Hope Community Church.

Some critics have allegedly called Pittman a “white supremacist.” Pastor Pittman is black.

Comments on the church’s official Yelp business page were disabled after it was inundated with likely fake negative reviews this week.

“This business recently received increased public attention, which often means people come to this page to post their views on the news,” Yelp stated on the New Hope Community Church’s page.

“While we don’t take a stand one way or the other when it comes to this incident, we’ve temporarily disabled the posting of content to this page as we work to investigate whether the content you see here reflects actual consumer experiences rather than the recent events,” the statement continued. “Please note that we apply this same policy regardless of the business and regardless of the topic at issue.”

Before the comments were turned off, several detractors slammed the church’s Yelp page with one-star reviews in the past week.

A Yelp user claimed, “The church sign on display promotes so much hate. I’m sad for our diverse community of Palatine to have read such ignorant messages.”

Another user wrote, “Do NOT. And I repeat, do not go here. This is not your normal warm, welcoming, compassionate church. These people are bigots and racists against Latinos. Starting from the pastor and down to all the parishioners. Look for another church and give your donations there. Do not even step foot in there if you’re undocumented or LGBTQ+. You’ve been warned.”

A commenter said, “Not a good church! Don’t come here. They do not welcome immigrants or minorities. Do yourself a favor and find a better church!”

Another added, “Church that promotes hate and racism. Do yourself a favor and avoid this place.”

One review read, “DO NOT RECOMMEND. Racist, discriminatory, unwelcoming church. Not sure what type of ‘God’ you praise … but God stated to love thy neighbor and your message is NOT it. SHAME ON YOU.”

The church had received a total of 14 negative reviews in the past decade, nine of which were posted in the past week after the church made headlines with its sensitive sign.

A majority of the recent one-star reviews were made by Yelp reviewers who were not from Illinois, including four from liberal California and one from Washington, D.C.

Despite the backlash, Pittman declared that he is sticking to his faith and doesn’t plan on changing the sign anytime soon.

“We push one man and one man only here and that’s Jesus Christ,” Pittman proclaimed.

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