This weekend brought the annual ecumenical border wall procession to the Arizona-Mexico border. The marchers met this year in Naco Arizona and processed to the wall which bars them from entering Naco Sonora. The Episcopal Diocese of Arizona was present for the walk and Bishop Smith was a featured speaker:
“During an address, Kirk Smith, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona, said he thinks God hates walls because he has torn them down in Jericho, Berlin and China.
‘But our wall is still here. Or is it? Physically it’s still here, although I am hoping that perhaps with a change of administration in the United States that it may not be there much longer,’ he said.
‘But in a way, the wall is more emotionally imposing than ever,’ he continued. ‘With the new level of violence on both sides of the border, and the increase in the drug trade and the arms trade, those things have increased the atmosphere of fear and distrust. So, it may be that the wall is not going to go away any time soon, at least the emotional wall.’
Smith also used biblical references to conclude that God’s plan for how people should live together won’t be stopped by a wall along the border.”
Read the full article here.