Even people who you'd suppose to be intelligent can't seem to grasp the difference between keeping in and keeping out.
A senior Vatican cardinal on Tuesday condemned the building of walls between countries to keep out immigrants and said Washington's plan to build a fence on the U.S.-Mexican border was part of an "inhuman program".Cardinal Renato Martino made his comments at a news conference presenting Pope Benedict's message for the Roman Catholic Church's World Day of Migrants and Refugees, in which the Pope called for more laws to help immigrants integrate.
"Speaking of borders, I must unfortunately say that in a world that greeted the fall of the Berlin Wall with joy, new walls are being built between neighborhood and neighborhood, city and city, nation and nation," said Martino, head of the Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace.
There's a world of difference between the Berlin Wall, which was designed to keep oppressed East Germans in, and the upcoming America-Mexico Wall that's designed to keep illegal immigrants out. It's the difference between a house and a prison. Does Cardinal Martino's home have walls to keep out unwanted visitors and to protect his stuff? How inhuman!
Asked if the U.S.-Mexican fence was the wrong thing to do, Martino said: "Yes, that's exactly what it is."Martino praised Mexican and U.S. bishops for opposing what he called "an inhuman program, which is what the construction of that wall and all others is".
Israel is building a barrier comprised of concrete and razor-topped steel fences along and inside the occupied West Bank. It says the barrier, which is about half-finished, stops suicide bombers. Palestinians call it a land grab that will deny them the viable state they seek in the West Bank and Gaza.
Saudi Arabia said it would start work next year on a security fence along its border with Iraq to stop Islamic militants entering the country.
When people are coming to kill you and steal your things, building a wall to keep them out is just about the most humane option I can think of. What would the cardinal have us do? Just shoot them?
I wonder what he'd say about the Israeli security fence.
I love my Church, but I have to admit that a lot of its more prominent clerics think far too much of themselves, and have no sense of the limits on their wisdom and authority. Christ Himself told us not to conflate religion with politics or government. Perhaps the good cardinal needs a reminder.
One of the most striking features of Ciudad de Mexico, traveling out Ave. Chapultepec from Zona Rosa past the well kept homes, are the walls and heavy iron gates.