Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
This week on The Hard Country, Joshua Treviño and Ariana Guajardo mark the centennial of La Cristiada, the Cristero War, which erupted in Mexico in August 1926 when traditional, practicing Catholics rose up against a government determined to strip the Church from public life.
Josh and Ariana trace the roots of Mexico's church-state conflict from independence in the 1820s through the Reform Wars, the French intervention under Emperor Maximilian, the Mexican Revolution, and the 1917 Constitution, up to the 1926 Ley Calles, the decree that banned religious orders, criminalized clerical dress, and pushed the country's Catholic majority to armed rebellion.
They also explore the competing origin myths of modern Mexico, the Aztec centered narrative promoted by today's Morena government versus the mestizo, Guadalupan synthesis of Spanish and indigenous cultures, and tie it to current events, including a recent essay describing the Church as an obstacle to the state and comments from President López Obrador's sons on Fidel Castro's 100th birthday.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s mission is to promote and defend liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise in Texas and the nation by educating and affecting policymakers and the Texas public policy debate with academically sound research and outreach.
Funded by thousands of individuals, foundations, and corporations, the Foundation does not accept government funds or contributions to influence the outcomes of its research.
The public is demanding a different direction for their government, and the Texas Public Policy Foundation is providing the ideas that enable policymakers to chart that new course.
Website: texaspolicy.com
X: twitter.com/tppf
Facebook: facebook.com/texaspolicy
Instagram: instagram.com/texaspolicy
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/texas-public-policy-foundation
This week on The Hard Country, Joshua Treviño and Ariana Guajardo mark the centennial of La Cristiada, the Cristero War, which erupted in Mexico in August 1926 when traditional, practicing Catholics rose up against a government determined to strip the Church from public life.
Josh and Ariana trace the roots of Mexico's church-state conflict from independence in the 1820s through the Reform Wars, the French intervention under Emperor Maximilian, the Mexican Revolution, and the 1917 Constitution, up to the 1926 Ley Calles, the decree that banned religious orders, criminalized clerical dress, and pushed the country's Catholic majority to armed rebellion.
They also explore the competing origin myths of modern Mexico, the Aztec centered narrative promoted by today's Morena government versus the mestizo, Guadalupan synthesis of Spanish and indigenous cultures, and tie it to current events, including a recent essay describing the Church as an obstacle to the state and comments from President López Obrador's sons on Fidel Castro's 100th birthday.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s mission is to promote and defend liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise in Texas and the nation by educating and affecting policymakers and the Texas public policy debate with academically sound research and outreach.
Funded by thousands of individuals, foundations, and corporations, the Foundation does not accept government funds or contributions to influence the outcomes of its research.
The public is demanding a different direction for their government, and the Texas Public Policy Foundation is providing the ideas that enable policymakers to chart that new course.
Website: texaspolicy.com
X: twitter.com/tppf
Facebook: facebook.com/texaspolicy
Instagram: instagram.com/texaspolicy
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/texas-public-policy-foundation
