While federal officials weigh possible civil rights violations over the invasion of a Minnesota church service on Sunday, leftist Christian leaders are cheering the anti-ICE protesters, casting the disruption of worship as a justified act of judgment.
A mob of anti-ICE agitators stormed Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, as the service began, with protesters claiming a pastor inside was affiliated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Video showed agitators chanting “Justice for Renee Good” inside the chapel, as anti-ICE demonstrations flooded the Twin Cities.
Church officials wrote in a statement Tuesday “agitators jarringly disrupted” their worship gathering, accosting members of the congregation, frightening children and “creat[ing] a scene marked by intimidation and threat.”
“Such conduct is shameful, unlawful, and will not be tolerated,” the church wrote. “Invading a church service to disrupt the worship of Jesus—or any other act of worship—is protected by neither the Christian Scriptures nor the laws of this nation. … Church buildings are meant to be places of peace and solace, where worshipers can hear and live out this message. We therefore call on local, state, and national leaders to protect this fundamental right. We are evaluating next steps with our legal counsel.”
Kevin Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board (NAMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention, said it was “absurd” that protesters would disrupt a Sunday morning worship service.
“As protesters trespassed inside the church, yelling in the worship service, ex-CNN reporter Don Lemon stuck a mic in [the church’s lead pastor, Jonathan Parnell]’s face asking don’t they have a constitutional right to public protest,” Ezell wrote in an X post. “No, they don’t have a right to enter private property & disrupt worship.”
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“If elected officials won’t contain lawlessness, [the NAMB] will provide protection for our churches,” Ezell added.
However, some pastors, including Louisiana minister Rodney Kennedy, are applauding the protesters’ ambush.
“MAGA churches are not being persecuted for righteousness but for not loving their neighbors. They are being persecuted by unexpected judgment, like Jesus cleansing the temple,” Kennedy wrote in an opinion article on Baptist News Global. “… I think God is using unexpected prophets to judge Cities Church.”
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Kennedy went on to attack the church itself, questioning “how a church bearing the name of Jesus promotes the themes of resentment, nativism, nationalism, racism and militaris.”
“MAGA evangelicals have been raising hell in American politics. Their movement is filled with economic angst, racism, religious bigotry, antifeminism and hostility toward immigrants, science, the media and democracy,” he wrote. “They have given birth to a Christian nationalism that is neither Christian nor patriotic.”
Kennedy added he believes the church demonstration was likely “only round one.”
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“Instead of whining about worship being violated, they should ask what led protesters to take such a drastic approach to communicate,” he wrote. “I pray MAGA evangelical churches everywhere will discover gospel reasons for facing the persecution and outrage of the culture. Until then, the Sunday protest in Minneapolis was probably only round one.”
Hours after the church protest, officials with the Department of Justice‘s Civil Rights Division said they would investigate the disruption.
“The @CivilRights is investigating the potential violations of the federal FACE Act by these people desecrating a house of worship and interfering with Christian worshipers,” Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon wrote in a statement on X. “Considering and investigating other related crimes as well. @FBI activated too!”
The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE) Act, a federal law passed in 1994, makes it illegal to use force, threats or obstruction to interfere with people in places of worship.
Violations of the FACE Act can trigger criminal penalties, including fines and imprisonment, or civil penalties.
