In a year of political divisiveness, a Sunday protest at a Southern Baptist Church in St. Paul, Minn., has drawn a new line in the sand. Protesters led by former CNN anchor Don Lemon entered Cities Church during Sunday morning…
‘This is a five-alarm fire’
Civil rights advocates are protesting the arrests of lawfully resettled refugees as part of the Trump administration’s widening mass detention and deportation campaign. Federal immigration agents have arrested dozens of refugees who were cleared by extensive security screenings before being…
A dispatch from the USA to Christians in Italy (and beyond)
The editor of Riforma, an Italian-language newspaper published by and for Baptists, Methodists and Waldensians in Italy, invited me to contribute a front-page article for this week’s edition sharing my perspective on recent events in the United States. This is what…
We do not know all the names
I need to say this plainly: We do not know all the names. That is part of what has been sitting so heavily with, or maybe even on, me. Over the last 12 months, approximately 32 people have died in…
Calvinist pastor prays for God to smite the people of Minneapolis
A professor at John Piper’s Bethlehem Seminary prayed on Sunday not for God to protect the terrified people of Minneapolis, but for God to protect ICE from the violent people of Minneapolis. “I’m a pastor in Minnesota. Here’s how I…
We spent Christmas visiting my husband in ICE detention
My family loves the holiday season. So much so that we listen to Christmas music year-round. Our yard is usually the most decorated on the street. We attend the Christmas Eve candlelight service at church with our daughter. On Christmas…
Lessons from Minneapolis and beyond
On Jan. 7, federal law enforcement officers in Minneapolis were “doing an enforcement operation.” At 9:35:05 a.m. local time, witnesses observed Renee Nicole Good’s Honda Pilot stopped diagonally on Portland Avenue. Roughly a minute later, a woman who would later…
Choose love, not ICE
On Wednesday in Minneapolis, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good during an otherwise nonviolent encounter. Video and eyewitness accounts, which show the woman attempting to flee from ICE as they aggressively attempted to enter…
The deadly result of excusing Trump’s lies
Renee Nicole Good is dead because evangelical Christians have excused Donald Trump’s lies. Is that a harsh assessment? Absolutely. Is it accurate? Absolutely. Here’s why: Trump’s first and second elections as president of the United States were built on a…
Prosecutors and civil liberties groups speak out on ICE raids in houses of worship
Faith organizations suing to prevent immigration raids on or near houses of worship have gained support from a diverse array of prosecutors, civil liberty and religious groups in a case against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Fair and Just…
In Minneapolis, Good versus evil
Renee Nicole Good was murdered in her SUV by masked ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis Jan. 7. One day after we observed the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, another avoidable tragedy with law enforcement…
Minneapolis clergy rally for justice after ICE shooting
It was a time set aside for mourning, remembrance and moral clarity as hundreds of pastors gathered in Minneapolis Jan. 8 for a clergy press conference one day after an ICE agent shot and killed a woman protesting their actions. “It…