So a weird thing happened at church today...
I thought about posting this in the religion discussion group, but I feel like this has less to do with religion and more to do with society. Anyway, my wife is a minister (at the moment in charge of education) at a UCC church.
We have a varied congregation in terms of political beliefs, but I feel like we lean more liberal than not. That being said, our outreach committee hosted two dreamers today for a forum after church. It was a very enlightening discussion about what it is like to be in this country undocumented as a young person and growing up here.
In fact, it was such a good conversation, that one of our staunchest Republican members got up up to say that she thought how we treated dreamers was akin to modern day slavery and she hoped that we found a resolution to keep them here as soon as possible. My wife and I looked at each other like, damn!
But right after that, a man that was unfamiliar to us, got up and asked the question, "So how do you keep illegals from coming in the country like you did?" Everyone was a little taken aback. This man has never been our church before. Which is fine. This talk was somewhat advertised to the community. But what I thought was odd was his explanation for being there.
So our church has both a main building and a meetinghouse (Which was the original church and town meetinghouse from literally the 1700s). We hold worship at the meetinghouse, but all other functions happen in the main building. No one saw this man at church service but all of a sudden he showed up at coffee hour in the main building right before the talk with the dreamers.
He walked out behind my wife and I to the meetinghouse for the talk after coffee hour and sat in the pew right next to us. I, being the ministers wife I am, politely said hello as we walked next door. He barely replied and sat in the pew right next to us. To say that he seemed out of place makes me feel judgy but truthful all at the same time. Most of us were sitting there in our Sunday clothes while he sat there with dark glasses, jeans, t-shirt, and work boots. Keep in mind, I really don't judge, but I just got a bad feeling.
Being that I had an uneasy feeling, I made sure to glance his way whenever time allowed. He was on his phone a good majority of the talk. He asked that one question at the end of the talk, and then our minister approached him afterward, asking him if he enjoyed it and the usual questions. He dismissed her pretty quickly. He then approached the moderator of the talk (a very good church member, staunch liberal, and writer) and the man tried to get into a heated argument with him, although I could tell the church member was having none of it.
Long story long, the man told our other church member that he was passing through from Ohio and just happened to stop in and see there was an immigration talk and decided to check it out. Am I wrong to not buy that? The gut looked like he was out for trouble. My wife and I discussed this after without saying a word the whole time. We both were concerned about him and worried he could have a gun. Is this the world we live in? Or were we right to be concerned? None of this seemed right to us at all. I would love some input.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Again
Luckily both of the speakers are covered for the moment by DACA, but no one knows how long it will last. They both talked about how they make no plans for their futures just in case 
He was deliberately abrasive in clothing and manner. He wasn't some humble blue-collar worker walking in to partake of the message of Jesus -- he was actively resisting it. Why the shades indoors? What was he doing on the phone the whole time, aside from being rude? Reporting on you to some, ah, club he belongs to?
And yes, this is the world we live in.
Stay safe. 
