In a legal battle between the Trump administration and the Las Cruces diocese, the religious-liberty arguments of the diocese would be much more persuasive if they were not couched in blatantly political rhetoric.
The Trump administration wants to seize land by eminent domain to complete a section of the border wall in the New Mexico desert. The conflict arises because the land is part of the Mount Cristo Rey pilgrimage site, where a giant statue of Christ the King stands atop a mountain near that border. The diocese argues that the border wall would be an “affront to religious liberty.”
If the diocese could demonstrate that the wall would inhibit the practice of the Catholic faith, the religious-freedom argument would deserve serious consideration. But instead the diocese contends that the wall itself is “offensive to Catholic values and teachings,” insofar as it is “a physical symbol of the government’s dehumanizing treatment of migrants writ large.” So it seems that core of the dispute is the Church’s opposition to the Trump administration’s border policies.
If the government built a wall to bar legal entrance to a pilgrimage site, that action would clearly offend against the exercise of religious freedom. But the purpose of the wall would be precisely to stop illegal entry into the United States. For the purposes of border security, the presence of a pilgrimage site nearby is irrelevant.
Continue reading at Catholic Culture