Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Protestant leaders gathered Tuesday evening in a Lutheran Church to pray, preach, plead and lament the passage of an immigration bill. They even called for it to be repealed.Their words cannot stop Senate Bill 81 from taking effect today, but they hoped to provide comfort and express solidarity with Utah's undocumented immigrants.

"SB81 is a symbol of the brokenness in our community," said the Rev. Steve Klemz, pastor at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Salt Lake City who organized the interfaith service. "We lament in public because the love of God is always love of neighbor."

The bill has been touted as Utah's solution to the problem of illegal immigration, but that is a "myth," said Barbara Szweda, immigration attorney with the ACLU. "Only comprehensive federal reform can change the situation in Utah."

SB81 has created a "climate of fear in a state that has always welcomed the stranger," said Szweda, an Episcopalian. "We don't need the hate this law has spawned. We call on people of faith to seek to repeal it."

The melancholy sound of an oboe punctuated the sermons, while several speakers read biblical passages detailing God's love for the whole human family, the importance of hospitality to strangers and the importance of justice for the poor.

"Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may move every heart; that the barriers dividing us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatred cease; and that, with our divisions healed, we might live in justice and peace," prayed Anita Catron, of All Saints Episcopal in Salt Lake City.