Religious freedom and domestic surveillance

A few days ago, Michael helpfully linked to a Sightings essay by Jonathan Rothchild on "Religious Freedom in a Time of Domestic Surveillance."  The piece described and criticized several troubling instances of "intrusion on civil liberties of religious groups" and emphasized that:

[In] and through the exercise of these liberties and their relational dimensions that individuals construct and affirm the common good.  The common good depends on the delicate balance of rights and duties, freedom and authority, and means and ends that cannot impugn basic expressions and experiences of the human journey -- such as the exercise of religious freedom and critique.

I share (what I took to be) Michael's concerns about these intrusions, and Mr. Rothchild's view that security concerns -- while valid and weighty -- should not serve as an excuse for delegitimizing dissent, particularly dissent that is nurtured and informed in expressive associations and religious communities.  I have to say, I was reminded of how Attorney General Janet Reno's Task Force on the Violence Against Abortion Providers Conspiracy, in the course of its investigations, reportedly spied on Roman Catholic Cardinal John O'Connor of New York, Feminists for Life, and the U.S. Bishops' Conference of the Roman Catholic Church.