On Sunday, a mob of anti-ICE protesters stormed a church in St. Paul. Minn., during a church service. The radicals, with disgraced former CNN host Don Lemon along for the ride, terrified the congregants by disrupting the service.
Radical leftists claim that the protest — or act of terror, which is really what it was — is free speech that the First Amendment protects. What they miss is that a church is private property, and the First Amendment also ensures freedom of religion.
Furthermore, as my HotAir colleague David Strom points out, Minnesota’s Democrats have not only not condemned the domestic terrorism, but some of them have gone on record promoting it. He writes, “The goal is to frighten, intimidate, make life hell, and in some cases, actually harm people. And it is our top political and government leadership who are egging it on, or worse.”
“People have been stalked, employees of hotels threatened, and restaurants have been challenged to poison agents,” David reports. “Agents have crowds banging pots and pans and blowing whistles at night to prevent their ability to sleep, and, famously, churchgoers have had their worship service invaded.”
Imagine sitting in that sanctuary. You’re in chairs with your family, minding your own business and worshiping the Lord — as is your Constitutional right — when a group of terrorists comes in and wreaks havoc. I can’t begin to fathom the fear something like that would strike in the heart of an adult, much less a child. What about first-time guests, maybe people who are checking out Christianity for the first time? My heart goes out to everyone who was in that congregation on Sunday.
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If you think, “This could never happen at my church,” you might be jumping the gun. This episode could set a precedent for actions like this across the country.
Albert Mohler writes at World:
A critical boundary has been crossed. The left has long prized its agenda of “transgression,” and now it has pressed transgression to church invasion. No one was physically hurt, and the congregation will continue its work and witness, but make no mistake: At moments like this, Christians have to understand that nothing has happened and, at the same time, that something seismic has happened.
[…]
A signal has been sent. The left is now willing and some comments indicate even eager to invade and intimidate Christian congregations that violate their progressivist agenda. In an increasingly secular America, with cultural tensions running high, a church service is no longer off limits to political disturbance or demonstration. This time it was over immigration policy, but next time it could be over abortion or LGBTQ issues or just about anything else.
Members of the Southern Baptist Convention, the denomination to which Cities Church belongs, have asked authorities to look into the issue. The Department of Justice has launched an investigation and, as my colleague Matt Margolis reported on Monday, may consider charging Lemon under the KKK Act for this stunt.
“This is something that just shouldn’t happen in America,” Miles Mullin, the vice-president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, told the Associated Press. “For Baptists, our worship services are sacred.”
Churches don’t have to wait for the government to act. The best thing a congregation can do is have a security team.
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This is a drumbeat that I will pound over and over again. Churches need to protect themselves. My church has had off-duty sheriff’s deputies to protect the integrity of putting offerings in the safe and to keep an eye on the congregation for years, but we primarily rely on volunteers to ensure the safety of our church family.
I serve on our security team, and our volunteers are the ones with skin in the game. We’re invested. We serve, give, worship, and are part of the church family. We’ve even cut down our paid deputies from two to one because of the robustness of our volunteer team (but also to pay the one deputy more each week).
Our security team has lobbied for cameras in the church building (we have them outside) and has developed fire and severe weather plans, as well as plans on how to deal with active shooter situations. Our volunteers are vigilant and dedicated to keeping our church family safe and secure.
If your church doesn’t have a security team, talk to your pastors and elders. Better yet: Offer to start and lead one yourself! In an increasingly complex and dangerous world, the flock needs protection — and it’s up to those who are invested in the church body to do the protecting.
The Left wants to intimidate Christians into silence — even inside the sanctuary.
Not happening.
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