The Real Threat to Religious Liberty

Last updated on: May 17, 2017 at 12:18 pm by Mark Gordon

The Real Threat to Religious Liberty 2017-05-17T12:18:11-05:00 Mark Gordon

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

regina Up front, you should know that I don’t intend to vote for either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump in November. It’s not a tough decision, frankly. I live in the bluest of blue states, Rhode Island, where the only real question is whether the Democratic nominee will go over or just miss the 60% mark. So, although I have deep moral objections to both candidates, it’s an easy call for me: I’m writing in Wendell Berry’s name again.

But if I lived in a battleground state and had to choose between Clinton and Trump, I’d vote for the former because I believe Donald Trump is the greatest threat to religious liberty facing the United States today.

Of course all sorts of people, Catholics and Protestants alike, have warned us of the threat posed by Clinton, especially the likelihood that she would appoint Supreme Court justices hostile to the exercise of faith in the public square. Honestly, I think a lot of this talk has been overblown, a consequence of the capture of religious conservatives by the Republican Party. Conservatives have rarely rushed to the defense of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Muslims or other religious minorities when their practices were proscribed or restricted by government. They don’t even complain when cities and towns outlaw the feeding of the hungry by fellow Christians, or when governors like Mike Pence seek to prevent Catholic Charities from serving refugees.

That said, I’m am concerned when the federal government seeks to force religious orders like the Little Sisters of Poor to pay for contraception for their employees. Or when local governments bring the hammer down on small business owners for recusing themselves from off-site catering of same-sex weddings. A still greater threat is the criminalization of sermons critical of homosexuality, as was attempted in Houston, Texas, a couple of years ago. But these hardly rise to the level of a wholesale assault on religious liberty, in my view.

On the other hand, Donald Trump, if he’s true to his word, promises to threaten religious liberty in new and disturbing ways. First, he has pledged to target Muslim communities and religious institutions for infiltration and government surveillance, and even claims that he’d have “no choice” but to close mosques. Imagine a presidential candidate saying he’d have “no choice” but to close down churches or synagogues. There would be widespread outrage, but when it comes to the persecution of Muslims many Evangelicals and Catholics have rewarded Trump with their votes, apparently not realizing that if liberty is for me but not thee then it isn’t liberty at all.

But perhaps the greatest threat Trump presents to religious liberty is his abiding promise to form a vast federal agency to hunt down, arrest, detain, and deport 11 million undocumented immigrants. What he doesn’t realize is that millions of Christians like me will consider it our religious obligation to protect our brothers and sisters, even at the cost of our lives. The few sanctuary cities Trump rails against will become thousands of sanctuary homes, churches, parish halls, schools, and hospitals. And when Trump sends his armed federal agents into these homes and religious institutions, then we’ll all see what an assault on religious liberty really looks like.

This is personal for me. The woman in the picture at the top of this post is “Regina.” (That’s not her real name, but her real name is none of your business.) She’s an “illegal” who came here from Haiti two years ago on a six-month B-2 tourist visa and deliberately stayed longer, thereby breaking the law. A religious sister, human rights activist and nurse, she was beaten and left for dead by thugs working for the government installed by Hillary Clinton’s State Department. When they found out she had survived, they threatened to finish the job and harm her family. So she fled and wound up here with nothing and nobody, homeless and unable to speak English.

My wife and I first met Regina through my work with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. She was living on a borrowed scrap of floor in a Haitian family’s overcrowded apartment. At our first meeting, the only thing she wanted to know was where she could receive the Eucharist. We connected her with the Haitian community at an urban parish, paid her host family’s rent, brought them food from time to time, and kept Regina in pocket cash for toiletries. When her host family eventually told her she had to leave, she had nowhere to go, so we asked her to live with us.

That was a year ago. In the months since Regina has become a second daughter to us. She even calls us “Dad” and “Mom.” She had already applied for asylum (and is still waiting for a decision), so we helped her get employment authorization, take English language courses, get certified as a nursing assistant, and find a job. She now works two jobs and is looking forward to the day when she can resume her career as a nurse, get married (religious life is over for her), have some kids, and become an American citizen. She is now a member of our family and will be forever, come hell or Donald Trump. We love her. She loves us. And love is more powerful than human law.

What we did for Regina we did for Christ, and in the process we became Christ to her. That’s the beautiful exchange effected by the Works of Mercy. She is a remarkable young woman, but she’s not exceptional. Every “illegal” has a past, a future, a story, a hope, and a beautiful human face. If Donald Trump is elected and pursues his evil plan, he will become the greatest threat to the exercise of religious liberty in American history because for many Christians – though, sadly, not most – aiding the poorest of the poor, even in defiance of the law, is the very heart of the Gospel, and we won’t abandon the Gospel.

Catholic Social Teaching

Christian Friendship

Corporal & Spiritual Works of Mercy

Peace, nonviolent resistance, conscience and conscientious objection

Previous Post

August 1, 2016

Praying for Miracles

Next Post

August 20, 2016 The Novena for Peace Begins Today

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Alternative economics, worker and family empowerment, the spirituality of work, the economy of sharing Art Care for Our Common Home Catholic imagination Catholic Social Teaching Christian Friendship Christian Persecution Community building, models or forms of community, radical hospitality Corporal & Spiritual Works of Mercy Daniel Schwindt Dorothy Day, Peter Maurin, CW aims and means, spirituality Elias Crim Grace Potts Greg Guest Josh Brumfield Mark Gordon Matthew Cooper Mercy Michael Stafford Paul Grenier Peace, nonviolent resistance, conscience and conscientious objection Pope Francis Poverty, economic inequality, consumerism, unemployment, underemployment, living wage Racial Reconciliation Radical Christianity Stan Goff Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 October 2017 August 2017 July 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "Let my people go"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Moses Pharaoh Paul Jesus