Organizers of the Stewardship Kaleidoscope Conference, scheduled to be held Feb. 28-March 2, say they have already signed contracts to hold the event at the Phoenix Airport Hilton hotel, and to break those contracts to move the gathering to another state would be too expensive.
In July, the assembly approved by a vote of 420-205 a commissioners’ resolution responding to a strict new immigration law in Arizona. That law would require police to check the immigration status of people they stop, if they suspect the person might be in the United States illegally, and would also require immigrants to carry their immigration documents with them at all times.
In late July, a federal judge blocked implementation of some of the most controversial aspects of that law, issuing a preliminary injunction in response to a challenge brought by the Obama administration.
Because of the General Assembly action, no funding from the General Assembly Mission Council will be available to the Kaleidoscope Conference, conference organizers say, and no staff members from the council will be allowed to attend.
The conference, which this year was held in Indianapolis with about 325 attending, is sponsored by a coalition of middle governing bodies, the Presbyterian Foundation, and the General Assembly Mission Council.
