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Sanctuary: On the Border Between Church and State — History
Sanctuary: On the Border Between Church and State

A limited podcast series about the politics of immigration, faith as radical hospitality, and the borders between church and state.

In the spring of 1982, six faith communities in Arizona and California declared themselves places of safe harbor for hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans and Guatemalans that had been denied legal proceedings for political asylum in the U.S. Alleging that immigration officials had intentionally miscategorized Central Americans as ‘economic migrants’ in order to accelerate their deportation, humanitarian organizations, legal advocates, and religious bodies sought alternatives for aid within their faiths’ scriptural teachings and the juridical parameters offered by international and national human rights and refugee law. Known as the Sanctuary Movement, this decade-long interfaith mobilization spurred congressional action in support of Central American asylees by the 1990s and served as the model for a renewed movement for sanctuary in support of undocumented Americans in the twenty-first century.

Every episode in the series draws upon extensive archival data from across the country in order to offer new interpretations of the Sanctuary Movement and introduce public audiences to the primary voices and sources within the faith communities and grassroots organizations at its core. To date, there is no resource that provides a reliable and relevant examination of the movement from the 1980s to the present. “Sanctuary: On the Border Between Church and State” proposes to do exactly this and thus chart new directions for one of the nation’s most confrontational religious movements.

Produced by the Institute for Religion, Media, and Civic Engagement. Generous support provided by the Henry Luce Foundation. Additional support was given by the American Academy of Religion and Amherst College.

Creators: Dr. Lloyd Barba (Faculty, Amherst College) and Dr. Sergio Gonzalez (Faculty, Marquette University)

Executive Producer: Dr. Bradley Onishi

Sound Engineer and Score: Scott Okamoto

Production Assistance: Kari Onishi

Distributed by Axis Mundi Media

Copyright: © All rights reserved.

Latest Episodes:

Ep. 6 Part II: Sanctuary in the Pews and in the Streets Oct 31, 2024

“Build the wall! Build the wall!” How about building sanctuaries instead? The 2016 election of Donald Trump shook the nation. But in the days following his unprecedented victory, sanctuary organizers got to work, not waiting until Trump stepped foot in the White House to develop the networks necessary to protect immigrant communities. In this episode, Barba and González track the immigration politics that played a central role in Trump’s 2016 campaign, and examine how faith organizations and houses of worship revamped the nascent New Sanctuary Movement to meet the historical moment. Churches and synagogues, however, weren’t the only locations where sanctuary could be nurtured; immigration activists took sanctuary to the streets, declaring college campuses, cities, and even entire states sanctuary spaces that would serve as bulwarks against Trump’s draconian immigration policies.

Creators

Dr. Lloyd Daniel Barba is an Assistant Professor of Religion and Core Faculty in Latinx and Latin American Studies at Amherst College. He is the author of the award-winning book Sowing the Sacred: Mexican Pentecostal Farmworkers in California(Oxford University Press) and editor of Latin American and US Latino Religions in North America (Bloomsbury). His current research on the Sanctuary Movement includes A Refuge of Resistance: A History of the US Sanctuary Movement (under contract with Oxford University Press) and a volume edited with co-host Sergio González, Sacred Refuge: New Histories of the Sanctuary Movement (under contract with New York University Press).

Dr. Sergio M. González is Assistant Professor of History at Marquette University. He is the author of Strangers No Longer: Latino Belonging and Faith in Twentieth-Century Wisconsin(University of Illinois Press) and Mexicans in Wisconsin(Wisconsin Historical Society Press) and the co-editor of Faith and Power: Latino Religious Politics Since 1945(New York University Press) with Felipe Hinojosa and Maggie Elmore. He is a co-founder and former organizer for the Dane Sanctuary Coalition and is currently completing a co-edited volume with co-host Lloyd Barba, Sacred Refuge: New Histories of the US Sanctuary Movement (under contract with New York University Press).

Funding for this series has been generously provided by the Henry Luce Foundation. Additional support was provided by the American Academy of Religion and Amherst College.

Executive Producer: Dr. Bradley Onishi (@bradleyonishi)

Audio Engineer: Scott Okamoto (@rsokamoto)

Production Assistance: Kari Onishi

Ep. 6 Part I: Sanctuary in the Pews and in the Streets Oct 31, 2024

“Build the wall! Build the wall!” How about building sanctuaries instead? The 2016 election of Donald Trump shook the nation. But in the days following his unprecedented victory, sanctuary organizers got to work, not waiting until Trump stepped foot in the White House to develop the networks necessary to protect immigrant communities. In this episode, Barba and González track the immigration politics that played a central role in Trump’s 2016 campaign, and examine how faith organizations and houses of worship revamped the nascent New Sanctuary Movement to meet the historical moment. Churches and synagogues, however, weren’t the only locations where sanctuary could be nurtured; immigration activists took sanctuary to the streets, declaring college campuses, cities, and even entire states sanctuary spaces that would serve as bulwarks against Trump’s draconian immigration policies.

Creators

Dr. Lloyd Daniel Barba is an Assistant Professor of Religion and Core Faculty in Latinx and Latin American Studies at Amherst College. He is the author of the award-winning book Sowing the Sacred: Mexican Pentecostal Farmworkers in California(Oxford University Press) and editor of Latin American and US Latino Religions in North America (Bloomsbury). His current research on the Sanctuary Movement includes A Refuge of Resistance: A History of the US Sanctuary Movement (under contract with Oxford University Press) and a volume edited with co-host Sergio González, Sacred Refuge: New Histories of the Sanctuary Movement (under contract with New York University Press).

Dr. Sergio M. González is Assistant Professor of History at Marquette University. He is the author of Strangers No Longer: Latino Belonging and Faith in Twentieth-Century Wisconsin(University of Illinois Press) and Mexicans in Wisconsin(Wisconsin Historical Society Press) and the co-editor of Faith and Power: Latino Religious Politics Since 1945(New York University Press) with Felipe Hinojosa and Maggie Elmore. He is a co-founder and former organizer for the Dane Sanctuary Coalition and is currently completing a co-edited volume with co-host Lloyd Barba, Sacred Refuge: New Histories of the US Sanctuary Movement (under contract with New York University Press).

Funding for this series has been generously provided by the Henry Luce Foundation. Additional support was provided by the American Academy of Religion and Amherst College.

Executive Producer: Dr. Bradley Onishi (@bradleyonishi)

Audio Engineer: Scott Okamoto (@rsokamoto)

Production Assistance: Kari Onishi

Ep. 5 Part II: The New Sanctuary Movement Oct 24, 2024

An immigrant…or a terrorist? In a post September 11th world, undocumented residents in the United States faced the specter of deportation after being labeled a threat to national security. With anti-immigrant sentiment rising and legislation threatening to criminalize immigrants pending at the national and state level, faith activists again turned to sanctuary practices in the summer of 2006 to protect immigrants, migrants, and refugees. In this episode, Barba and González explore the development of the New Sanctuary Movement, a renewed effort to infuse the biblical injunction to welcome the stranger into the nation’s immigration politics. They chart how sanctuary activists borrowed from their predecessors while developing new strategies to confront what had become a well-oiled detention and deportation system, one that threatened millions of people who had called America home for decades.

Additional Resources:

ABC’s Nightline, Sanctuary Cities (ca. 1985)
Freeman Reports - Stacy Merkt
Sisters of the Presentation Teleconference: Sanctuary, provided by California Revealed
The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, Episode on Sanctuary (1985)

Creators

Dr. Lloyd Daniel Barba is an Assistant Professor of Religion and Core Faculty in Latinx and Latin American Studies at Amherst College. He is the author of the award-winning book Sowing the Sacred: Mexican Pentecostal Farmworkers in California(Oxford University Press) and editor of Latin American and US Latino Religions in North America (Bloomsbury). His current research on the Sanctuary Movement includes A Refuge of Resistance: A History of the US Sanctuary Movement (under contract with Oxford University Press) and a volume edited with co-host Sergio González, Sacred Refuge: New Histories of the Sanctuary Movement (under contract with New York University Press).

Dr. Sergio M. González is Assistant Professor of History at Marquette University. He is the author of Strangers No Longer: Latino Belonging and Faith in Twentieth-Century Wisconsin(University of Illinois Press) and Mexicans in Wisconsin(Wisconsin Historical Society Press) and the co-editor of Faith and Power: Latino Religious Politics Since 1945(New York University Press) with Felipe Hinojosa and Maggie Elmore. He is a co-founder and former organizer for the Dane Sanctuary Coalition and is currently completing a co-edited volume with co-host Lloyd Barba, Sacred Refuge: New Histories of the US Sanctuary Movement (under contract with New York University Press).

Funding for this series has been generously provided by the Henry Luce Foundation. Additional support was provided by the American Academy of Religion and Amherst College.

Executive Producer: Dr. Bradley Onishi (@bradleyonishi)

Audio Engineer: Scott Okamoto (@rsokamoto)

Production Assistance: Kari Onishi

Ep. 5 Part I: An Immigrant or a Terrorist? Oct 24, 2024

An immigrant…or a terrorist? In a post September 11th world, undocumented residents in the United States faced the specter of deportation after being labeled a threat to national security. With anti-immigrant sentiment rising and legislation threatening to criminalize immigrants pending at the national and state level, faith activists again turned to sanctuary practices in the summer of 2006 to protect immigrants, migrants, and refugees. In this episode, Barba and González explore the development of the New Sanctuary Movement, a renewed effort to infuse the biblical injunction to welcome the stranger into the nation’s immigration politics. They chart how sanctuary activists borrowed from their predecessors while developing new strategies to confront what had become a well-oiled detention and deportation system, one that threatened millions of people who had called America home for decades.

Additional Resources:

ABC’s Nightline, Sanctuary Cities (ca. 1985)
Freeman Reports - Stacy Merkt
Sisters of the Presentation Teleconference: Sanctuary, provided by California Revealed
The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, Episode on Sanctuary (1985)

Creators

Dr. Lloyd Daniel Barba is an Assistant Professor of Religion and Core Faculty in Latinx and Latin American Studies at Amherst College. He is the author of the award-winning book Sowing the Sacred: Mexican Pentecostal Farmworkers in California(Oxford University Press) and editor of Latin American and US Latino Religions in North America (Bloomsbury). His current research on the Sanctuary Movement includes A Refuge of Resistance: A History of the US Sanctuary Movement (under contract with Oxford University Press) and a volume edited with co-host Sergio González, Sacred Refuge: New Histories of the Sanctuary Movement (under contract with New York University Press).

Dr. Sergio M. González is Assistant Professor of History at Marquette University. He is the author of Strangers No Longer: Latino Belonging and Faith in Twentieth-Century Wisconsin(University of Illinois Press) and Mexicans in Wisconsin(Wisconsin Historical Society Press) and the co-editor of Faith and Power: Latino Religious Politics Since 1945(New York University Press) with Felipe Hinojosa and Maggie Elmore. He is a co-founder and former organizer for the Dane Sanctuary Coalition and is currently completing a co-edited volume with co-host Lloyd Barba, Sacred Refuge: New Histories of the US Sanctuary Movement (under contract with New York University Press).

Funding for this series has been generously provided by the Henry Luce Foundation. Additional support was provided by the American Academy of Religion and Amherst College.

Executive Producer: Dr. Bradley Onishi (@bradleyonishi)

Audio Engineer: Scott Okamoto (@rsokamoto)

Production Assistance: Kari Onishi

Episode 4: Spies in the Pews Oct 17, 2024

Spies in the pews? Criminal informants at Bible study? By the mid 1980s, sanctuary organizers were in the federal government’s crosshairs. The movement was growing, and its publicity-friendly protests were embarrassing the Reagan administration as it ramped up its military intervention in Central America. Facing pressure from a coalition of religious and political critics of the movement, the Department of Justice moved forward with a plan to covertly infiltrate sanctuary churches and put the squeeze on sanctuary’s most important organizers. In this episode, Barba and González examine the joint INS-FBI operation to infiltrate and dismantle the movement, the subsequent arrests of sanctuary leadership, and the 1985 Sanctuary Trial that threatened to silence a movement that was quickly becoming the most potent critic of the Reagan administration’s refugee and foreign policies.

Additional Resources:

ABC’s Nightline, Sanctuary Cities (ca. 1985)
Freeman Reports - Stacy Merkt
Sisters of the Presentation Teleconference: Sanctuary, provided by California Revealed
The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, Episode on Sanctuary (1985)

Creators

Dr. Lloyd Daniel Barba is an Assistant Professor of Religion and Core Faculty in Latinx and Latin American Studies at Amherst College. He is the author of the award-winning book Sowing the Sacred: Mexican Pentecostal Farmworkers in California(Oxford University Press) and editor of Latin American and US Latino Religions in North America (Bloomsbury). His current research on the Sanctuary Movement includes A Refuge of Resistance: A History of the US Sanctuary Movement (under contract with Oxford University Press) and a volume edited with co-host Sergio González, Sacred Refuge: New Histories of the Sanctuary Movement (under contract with New York University Press).

Dr. Sergio M. González is Assistant Professor of History at Marquette University. He is the author of Strangers No Longer: Latino Belonging and Faith in Twentieth-Century Wisconsin(University of Illinois Press) and Mexicans in Wisconsin(Wisconsin Historical Society Press) and the co-editor of Faith and Power: Latino Religious Politics Since 1945(New York University Press) with Felipe Hinojosa and Maggie Elmore. He is a co-founder and former organizer for the Dane Sanctuary Coalition and is currently completing a co-edited volume with co-host Lloyd Barba, Sacred Refuge: New Histories of the US Sanctuary Movement (under contract with New York University Press).

Funding for this series has been generously provided by the Henry Luce Foundation. Additional support was provided by the American Academy of Religion and Amherst College.

Executive Producer: Dr. Bradley Onishi (@bradleyonishi)

Audio Engineer: Scott Okamoto (@rsokamoto)

Production Assistance: Kari Onishi

Episode 3: Sanctuary Goes Mainstream Oct 10, 2024

Sanctuary-mania? Perhaps that’s a stretch, but by the mid-1980s, thousands of Americans had pledged their support for a faith-based movement to offer safe harbor to Central American asylum seekers, even if it meant they might have to go to jail. In episode three, Barba and González delve into the dramatically rapid growth of the sanctuary movement as it matured into a transnational phenomenon. They focus on two major geographic hubs that moved sanctuary beyond the borderlands, the San Francisco Bay Area and Chicago. Houses of worship joined the movement at a blistering pace, thanks in large part to the work of migrants themselves who shared their testimonies about political and religious repression across the United States. Chicago’s rise to prominence as the de-facto orchestrator of the underground railroad to transport refugees away from the border areas came with sharp disagreements within the movement. The rift over mission and strategy was demonstrated in the tensions between the Chicago and Tucson hubs of the movement.

Additional Resources:

San Francisco East Bay Oral Histories, provided by the Graduate Theological Union
“Basta! Chicago Religious Task Force on Central America, 1983-1992 (online collection),” provided by the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Presbyterian Historical Society (PHS) LIVE: Sanctuary and Accompaniment (2022)
PBS Frontline, Sanctuary (1983)

Creators

Dr. Lloyd Daniel Barba is an Assistant Professor of Religion and Core Faculty in Latinx and Latin American Studies at Amherst College. He is the author of the award-winning book Sowing the Sacred: Mexican Pentecostal Farmworkers in California(Oxford University Press) and editor of Latin American and US Latino Religions in North America (Bloomsbury). His current research on the Sanctuary Movement includes A Refuge of Resistance: A History of the US Sanctuary Movement (under contract with Oxford University Press) and a volume edited with co-host Sergio González, Sacred Refuge: New Histories of the Sanctuary Movement (under contract with New York University Press).

Dr. Sergio M. González is Assistant Professor of History at Marquette University. He is the author of Strangers No Longer: Latino Belonging and Faith in Twentieth-Century Wisconsin(University of Illinois Press) and Mexicans in Wisconsin(Wisconsin Historical Society Press) and the co-editor of Faith and Power: Latino Religious Politics Since 1945(New York University Press) with Felipe Hinojosa and Maggie Elmore. He is a co-founder and former organizer for the Dane Sanctuary Coalition and is currently completing a co-edited volume with co-host Lloyd Barba, Sacred Refuge: New Histories of the US Sanctuary Movement (under contract with New York University Press).

Funding for this series has been generously provided by the Henry Luce Foundation. Additional support was provided by the American Academy of Religion and Amherst College.

Executive Producer: Dr. Bradley Onishi (@bradleyonishi)

Audio Engineer: Scott Okamoto (@rsokamoto)

Production Assistance: Kari Onishi

Episode 2: Gunfire, Death Squads, and the Origins of Sanctuary Oct 03, 2024

The memories of gunfire and death squads were never far from their minds. The unforgiving desert heat, however, was their primary concern. Who could Central American asylum seekers turn to when they arrived at the US-Mexico border, seeking refuge but finding none from the American government? In episode 2, Barba and González uncover the roots of the 1980s Movement. They begin with the pre-history of the Sanctuary Movement in Tucson, examining how legal aid workers and religious organizations responded to a rise of Latin American migrants who hailed from countries beyond Mexico arriving at the border. These migrants faced a harrowing journey through the desert, only one more step in a perilous journey that had begun in El Salvador and Guatemala. The hosts then turn to Central America, analyzing how clergy and laity inspired by the teachings of Liberation Theology sought to respond to widespread violence in the region. As more Central Americans crossed the treacherous desert, arriving in southern Arizona, Tucson-based activists made public the work they had already been doing clandestinely: offering sanctuary to those in need.

Additional Resources:

UTV Studios, Boderlands (2023) (Dora Rodriguez’s Story)
AJ+, I Survived Five Days In One Of The U.S.'s Deadliest Deserts (2023) (Dora Rodriguez’s Story)
PCUSA Digital History Sanctuary: A Question of Conscience (1985)
The New York Times, Killed in El Salvador: An American Story | Retro Report | (2014)

Creators

Dr. Lloyd Daniel Barba is an Assistant Professor of Religion and Core Faculty in Latinx and Latin American Studies at Amherst College. He is the author of the award-winning book Sowing the Sacred: Mexican Pentecostal Farmworkers in California(Oxford University Press) and editor of Latin American and US Latino Religions in North America (Bloomsbury). His current research on the Sanctuary Movement includes A Refuge of Resistance: A History of the US Sanctuary Movement (under contract with Oxford University Press) and a volume edited with co-host Sergio González, Sacred Refuge: New Histories of the Sanctuary Movement (under contract with New York University Press).

Dr. Sergio M. González is Assistant Professor of History at Marquette University. He is the author of Strangers No Longer: Latino Belonging and Faith in Twentieth-Century Wisconsin(University of Illinois Press) and Mexicans in Wisconsin(Wisconsin Historical Society Press) and the co-editor of Faith and Power: Latino Religious Politics Since 1945(New York University Press) with Felipe Hinojosa and Maggie Elmore. He is a co-founder and former organizer for the Dane Sanctuary Coalition and is currently completing a co-edited volume with co-host Lloyd Barba, Sacred Refuge: New Histories of the US Sanctuary Movement (under contract with New York University Press).

Funding for this series has been generously provided by the Henry Luce Foundation. Additional support was provided by the American Academy of Religion and Amherst College.

Executive Producer: Dr. Bradley Onishi (@bradleyonishi)

Audio Engineer: Scott Okamoto (@rsokamoto)

Production Assistance: Kari Onishi

Episode 1: Sanctuary in America Sep 26, 2024

What if we told you that one of the biggest movements to protect migrants in the history of the United States was led by people of faith? What if there was a movement that has been cultivated within religious spaces, dedicated to a radical hospitality - to live out the Gospel by welcoming the stranger?

In this first episode, Dr. Lloyd Barba and Dr. Sergio M. González, historians of Latino migration and religion, introduce this movement - one in which churches and synagogues transformed the way Americans understand the relationship between faith and politics. They explain how organizers deployed “usable sacred histories” in their development of the sanctuary movement, drawing upon scriptures and a centuries-old tradition to create and justify their protests and mobilizations. They also provide important context for understanding the violent Central American civil wars that created hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers and led congregations to summon up the ancient idea of sanctuary in the 1980s.

Additional Resources:

Benedictine Monks of Weston Priory - Sanctuary Page
Refugee Act 1980

Amherst College Sanctuary Website

Creators

Dr. Lloyd Daniel Barba is an Assistant Professor of Religion and Core Faculty in Latinx and Latin American Studies at Amherst College. He is the author of the award-winning book Sowing the Sacred: Mexican Pentecostal Farmworkers in California(Oxford University Press) and editor of Latin American and US Latino Religions in North America (Bloomsbury). His current research on the Sanctuary Movement includes A Refuge of Resistance: A History of the US Sanctuary Movement (under contract with Oxford University Press) and a volume edited with co-host Sergio González, Sacred Refuge: New Histories of the Sanctuary Movement (under contract with New York University Press).

Dr. Sergio M. González is Assistant Professor of History at Marquette University. He is the author of Strangers No Longer: Latino Belonging and Faith in Twentieth-Century Wisconsin(University of Illinois Press) and Mexicans in Wisconsin(Wisconsin Historical Society Press) and the co-editor of Faith and Power: Latino Religious Politics Since 1945(New York University Press) with Felipe Hinojosa and Maggie Elmore. He is a co-founder and former organizer for the Dane Sanctuary Coalition and is currently completing a co-edited volume with co-host Lloyd Barba, Sacred Refuge: New Histories of the US Sanctuary Movement (under contract with New York University Press).

Funding for this series has been generously provided by the Henry Luce Foundation. Additional support was provided by the American Academy of Religion and Amherst College.

Executive Producer: Dr. Bradley Onishi (@bradleyonishi)

Audio Engineer: Scott Okamoto (@rsokamoto)

Production Assistance: Kari Onishi

Trailer Sep 06, 2024

Coming late September 2024!

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