Two powerful forces of modern conservative ideology appear to be on the verge of colliding. One of these is the desire for a wall on the southern border of the US. Trump and his minions will spare no lie in pursuit of this goal. The other, dear to the heart of VP Mike Pence, is freedom of religion as protected by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). This act, signed by President Clinton in 1993, has recently been used as a cudgel against non-conservative people recently, such as in the case of Hobby Lobby not being required to provide their employees with birth control.
The conflict between these two forces centers on tiny La Lomita Chapel, pictured above, in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. The chapel is Roman Catholic and has been serving its community since the 19th Century. However, parishioners of the chapel hail from both sides of the river, and, the Church argues, the construction of a wall would prevent the free practice of their religion for their entire parish, which would violate RFRA. Indeed, the chapel is in the path of approved wall construction, due to occur this year, which means the chapel would be condemned through eminent domain. The diocese is not taking this lying down:
“As we made pretty clear in our briefing filed on behalf of the diocese in court last week in McAllen, Texas, the diocese intends to assert its rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to fight any building of the wall there,” said Mary McCord, a lawyer at Georgetown University Law School’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, who is representing the diocese.
I don’t know how far it will go, or how high-profile this case might become, but it would be interesting to see how Republicans who spout on about religious freedom respond to this particular case. Will they care that a religious community will be torn asunder by a pointless wall? My guess is that they will not. The only religion they really care about is Evangelical Protestant Christianity (they barely acknowledge Catholics as being Christian), and these are brown people, after all. It’s far more important to perform the security theater desired by the base, which involved building the damned wall. The real question is whether the courts can or will stop construction on the basis of RFRA at all. Time will tell.
Comments are found below the fold, but first here’s a word from our sponsor:
Here at Top Comments we welcome longtime as well as brand new Daily Kos readers to join us at 10pm Eastern. We strive to nourish community by rounding up some of the site's best, funniest, most mojo'd & most informative commentary, and we depend on your help!! If you see a comment by another Kossack that deserves wider recognition, please send it either to topcomments at gmail or to the Top Comments group mailbox by 9:30pm Eastern. Please please please include a few words about why you sent it in as well as your user name (even if you think we know it already :-)), so we can credit you with the find!
Top Comments (February 13, 2019):
From your humble diarist:
In ericlewis0’s recommended post on the judge in Manafort’s case ruling that he really did lie, ontheleftcoast observes that the right-wing-nut side of the internet is silent on this news, and METAL TREK posts a very funny image in response.
Highlighted by Overwatched:
This comment by Medium Head Boy regarding the history of Blizzard (computer games company) and the corporate culture change that occurred over its history. From Overwatched’s recommended post on downsizing at Blizzard.
Highlighted by niftywriter:
This comment by BeeD from the morning’s Good News Roundup.
Highlighted by lkker19:
This comment by tallen387 in Overwatched’s recommended post mentioned elsewhere.
Highlighted by BohoMojo:
This comment by TheGreatLeapForward in Aldous J Pennyfarthing’s recommended post on what Cheney’s cardiologist think’s about Trump’s health
Top Mojo (February 12, 2019):
Top Mojo is courtesy of mik! Click here for more on how Top Mojo works.
Top Photos (February 12, 2019):
Tonight’s picture quilt is courtesy of jotter!