Anti-Ice Mob Storms Sunday Service Shutting Down Worship

On Sunday, the unthinkable happened in St. Paul, Minnesota. Cities Church, a Southern Baptist congregation gathered for worship, was invaded by a mob of anti-ICE protesters, and choreographed for the camera by none other than former CNN anchor Don Lemon. 

Chants of "ICE out!," "Hands up, don't shoot," and "Justice for Renee Good!" pierced the sanctuary, shattering the peace of a holy place and terrifying parishioners who came to commune with God. This was not protest. This was desecration. And it is a warning to every Christian in America: sacred spaces are under attack, and we cannot stay silent.

The pretext for this intrusion was a pastor's previous role as acting director of the St. Paul ICE field office--a role discussed publicly on C-SPAN last year. Yet the anger and aggression displayed by the mob went far beyond political disagreement. They came into a house of God with shouts and livestream cameras, treating a sanctuary as a stage for political theater. 

Pastor Jonathan Parnell's response was immediate and righteous: "Shame on you! Shame on you! This is a house of God!" His words were not just a rebuke--they were a stand for the sanctity of worship, for the spiritual safety of his flock, and for the principle that God's house is inviolable.

Don Lemon, livestreaming the disruption, attempted to frame it as First Amendment protest. "This is what the First Amendment is about, the freedom to protest," he said. But let's be clear: freedom of speech does not give anyone the right to terrorize worshippers, to trample on sacred rituals, or to turn prayer into a spectacle for social media. This is not "uncomfortable protest." This is moral assault.

The outrage extends beyond Christian sensibilities. ICE rightly condemned the intrusion, noting a dangerous trend: "Agitators aren't just targeting our officers. Now they're targeting churches, too. They're going from hotel to hotel, church to church, hunting for federal law enforcement who are risking their lives to protect Americans." And yet, in the midst of this chaos, the perpetrators seemed proud, emboldened by media coverage, blind to the fact that they crossed a line that should never, ever be crossed.

The federal government is taking the matter seriously. Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, confirmed that the DOJ is investigating potential violations of the federal FACE Act, which protects houses of worship from interference and intimidation. "A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest!" Dhillon said. "Nor does the First Amendment protect your pseudo-journalism of disrupting a prayer service. You are on notice!"

Let that sink in. The law itself recognizes that churches are sacred ground, protected from precisely this kind of mob action. And yet, here we are, witnessing a brazen assault on Christian worship, carried out on camera and celebrated in some media corners as "provocative journalism." This is not journalism. This is intimidation. Several families with young children could be seen exiting the church in fear over the protests.

Spiritually and morally, what happened is unforgivable. Scripture teaches that God's house is holy, a refuge for the faithful. The psalmist declares: "I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord" (Psalm 122:1). What happened in St. Paul turned gladness into fear. Reverence into chaos. Worship into spectacle. Christians were made to feel unsafe in a place that should be their sanctuary.

This incident should serve as a clarion call to believers across America. We must stand firmly for the protection of churches, for the sanctity of worship, and for the right of pastors to lead without fear. We cannot remain quiet as mobs treat sanctuaries as stages for political rage. The line has been crossed. Our response must be loud, unyielding, and unapologetic.

To the Christians of St. Paul and beyond: Sunday should have been a day of prayer. It should have been a day of peace. Instead, it became a day of violation, intimidation, and moral outrage. We must say clearly, with one voice: this is wrong. This is unacceptable. And it will not be allowed to stand. The house of God is sacred. Our worship is sacred. And our God is watching.

Let this event serve as both warning and rallying cry: we must defend our churches, protect our pastors, and reclaim our sanctuaries. For in protecting the holy, we protect the faith itself--and remind the world that God's house is not a place for mobs to play politics.