Minnesota is a Sanctuary State, meaning that illegal aliens can flaunt our immigration laws, even though every nation has to have borders to remain a nation.
But as we all know, there was no sanctuary for those in the sanctuary of Cities Church in St. Paul a couple of weeks ago.
Just last week, Don Lemon—a former CNN anchor who was present during the sanctuary riot—was re-arrested for his role in the chaos that erupted when belligerent protesters commandeered a Sunday morning worship service. Lemon claims he was just acting as an impartial journalist at the scene.
FoxNews reports, “Lemon, who was released without bail Friday, says he was acting as a journalist, while prosecutors allege he coordinated with activists who disrupted services at Cities Church.” Lemon went on to quote Jesus in his defense (“The truth shall set you free.”)
No doubt, the scene was chaotic. An affidavit filed on behalf of the victims of the anti-church protest said that a group of 30-40 agitators entered the church on the morning of Jan. 18 and intimidated, harassed, oppressed, and terrorized the parishioners, including children. One woman fell and got hurt, according to the court document, while some protestors physically blocked people from leaving the church and parking lot.
One of the reasons this particular church was targeted was because one of the assistant pastors appears to be a member of ICE.
The protestors were yelling things like, “This ain’t God’s house. This is the house of the devil.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security has since arrested three of the “ringleaders of St. Paul Church Riot for Federal Crimes.” Now, a total of nine people have been arrested for this incident.
Recently, I spoke on the radio with Troy Miller, the president of the National Religious Broadcasters, about this incident. He told our listeners: “The whole scene was about intimidation…They weren’t just being obnoxious. They were literally yelling at the parishioners.”
Miller was grateful that the Justice Department acted quickly, he said. “Otherwise, this could be just the beginning of many escalations.”
Don Lemon claims, "You have to be willing to go into places and disrupt and make people uncomfortable. That’s what this country is about."
But is that really what our country is all about?
George Washington, the father of our nation, stated in a letter to the United Baptist Churches of Virginia (May 10, 1789): “If I could have entertained the slightest apprehension, that the Constitution framed in the Convention, where I had the honor to preside, might possibly endanger the religious rights of any ecclesiastical Society, certainly I would never have placed my signature to it.”
Founding Father Samuel Chase was one of the Maryland signers of the Declaration of Independence. He served as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, 1796-1811. In a 1799 case, Runkel v. Winemiller, Justice Chase wrote the majority opinion: “Religion is of general and public concern, and on its support depend, in great measure, the peace and good order of government, the safety and happiness of the people. By our form of government, the Christian religion is the established religion; and all sects and denominations of Christians are placed upon the same equal footing and are equally entitled to protection in their religious liberty.”
Bill Federer of AmericanMinute.com notes: “When Baptists in Virginia had their church services disrupted, James Madison introduced a Bill in the Virginia Legislature, October 31, 1785, for Punishing Disturbers of Religious Worship, which passed in 1789.” This bill punished by imprisonment those convicted, who “shall of purpose, maliciously, or contemptuously, disquiet or disturb any congregation assembled in any church.”
Elsewhere, Madison stated: “All men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience.”
The founders of America thought so much of religious freedom that they mentioned it first before all the other freedoms in the First Amendment.
Here is the wording of the First Amendment. Note the prominence therein of religion: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The first freedom listed is that of religion. And that freedom was clearly violated in Minnesota last month. The so-called sanctuary advocates allowed no sanctuary in a real sanctuary.
Jerry Newcombe, D.Min., is the executive director of the Providence Forum, an outreach of Coral Ridge Ministries. He has written/co-written 33 books, including George Washington’s Sacred Fire (with Providence Forum founder Peter Lillback, Ph.D.) and What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? (with D. James Kennedy, Ph.D.).