Thucydides (1.139.2) and Plutarch (Pericles, 30.2) record that the cultivation of the Hiera Orgas by a number of Megarians was one of the complaints cited by the Athenians to justify the implementation of the Megarian exclusion decree, which, in turn, became one of the main causes of the Peloponnesian War.
It is possible that Pericles used the dispute for his own political purposes, but the success of his public stance in protecting the Hiera Orgas, serves to demonstrate the significance of the religious considerations at play in the dispute.