Editor, Gazette-Journal:

I was disheartened to read that the Gloucester County Board of Supervisors voted for restrictions on Syrian refugees coming to Gloucester. This vote reminded me of how we turned Jewish refugees away and put Japanese Americans in internment camps during World War II, because of fear. I am glad supervisor Robert “JJ” Orth voted against it.

Once a man asked, Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” and Jesus responded by telling a story of three men on a dangerous road coming upon another man who needed help. Only one risked stopping to help. Jesus told the man who asked the question to go and do as the Samaritan, in the story the one who helped.

The Syrian refugees are our neighbors. I cannot be true to my faith or to the ideals of my country if I support turning them away.

Rev. Cynthia A. Snavely

Hayes, Va. ...