Two Paths for American Christianity

"Sunday worship sounded a little unusual at Cities Church last month. After news spread that one of the church's ministers, David Easterwood, is the acting director of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in St. Paul, Minnesota, protesters interrupted services on January 18. Days prior, the ACLU had named Easterwood in a class-action lawsuit alleging racial profiling and unlawful arrests. In response to the protest, Trump officials have unleashed their own version of that old-time religion."

"Harmeet Dhillon of the Department of Justice accused the group of "desecrating a house of worship," and Attorney General Pam Bondi has charged activists - and some journalists, including Don Lemon - under Section 241, an anti-KKK law. The church itself said the protest "is protected by neither the Christian Scriptures nor the laws of this nation." But January's demonstration was no church riot, whatever Bondi claims."

"Some activists cited the example of Christ, who drove money changers from the temple with a whip. "Just like Jesus did, we went into that church and flipped tables. Peacefully," said one participant, while another, Nekima Levy Armstrong, is an ordained minister. "Genuine" Christianity is "the call to love thy neighbor as you love yourself," Armstrong told the Washington Post."

Protesters interrupted services at Cities Church after news that minister David Easterwood serves as acting director of an ICE office in St. Paul and after the ACLU named him in a class-action suit alleging racial profiling and unlawful arrests. Trump administration officials condemned the demonstration, with a Justice Department lawyer calling it "desecrating a house of worship" and Attorney General Pam Bondi charging activists and some journalists under Section 241. Some protesters invoked Christ's temple actions and emphasized peaceful direct action. A federal judge sharply criticized daily deportation quotas and ordered the immediate release of a detained five-year-old and his father.

Read at Intelligencer