Episcopalians are well represented in a group of more than 70 religious organizations that joined a lawsuit seeking to prevent President Donald Trump from redirecting federal funds to wall construction on the border with Mexico, Episcopal News Service reports.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit in February to challenge the president’s use of emergency powers to divert funds for construction that the Congress voted not to fund.
The dioceses of Long Island and Western Massachusetts filed friend of the court briefs, as did Trinity Wall Street church and Episcopal City Mission of Boston.
The statement from the Diocese of Long Island said in part:
The administration’s fixation with constructing this wall is representative of the administration’s sinful and unlawful scapegoating of asylum seekers to promote an unAmerican, protectionist, nationalist agenda. It must not be allowed to happen.
From the Diocese of Western Massachusetts:
The President’s use of government funds for building the southern border wall is a clear violation of the Congress’ power of the purse. … What has been done to the children under orders from the President, is immoral and an affront to human dignity
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
