Protests

“Under U.S. law, churches are private property, even when open to the public for worship. Property owners—including churches—retain the right to set rules for conduct on their premises and to remove individuals who violate those rules.” - TGC

“The protesters allege that one of the church’s pastors — David Easterwood — also leads the local ICE field office overseeing the operations that have involved violent tactics and illegal arrests.” - RNS/AP

Also…

“They are united only in wanting to tear down. In short, these protests are a manifestation of the Mephistophelean spirit of negation or, in religious terms, the spirit of desecration.” - Carl Trueman

“Meanwhile, Pennsylvania truck driver Bob Bolus says he is leading a U.S. ‘Freedom Convoy’ of trucks from Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C., as soon as today with the goal of gridlocking the Capitol Beltway to protest vaccine mandates and Covid-19-related restrictions” - National Review

“Two men were arrested after tensions escalated at an event held the evening of July 13 in Salem, Ore. by The Church at Planned Parenthood (TCAPP). Present at the event were counter-protesters, the Proud Boys, and Pastor Greg Locke of Global Vision Bible Church in Mount Juliet, Tennessee.” - C.Leaders

“Last June, 60% in a USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll described Floyd’s death as murder; that percentage has now dropped by double digits to 36%.” - USA Today

“Metaxas …: ‘For context, just so you know, the guy came at me with his bike and was very menacing for a long time.’ Metaxas said he had been escorting his wife and Maryland pastor Harry Jackson to an Uber ride.” - WORLD

“The counter argument—that protesting is incompatible with a Christian ethic—is usually made from texts like 1 Peter 2:13-14….But this is the beauty of the freedoms we have in the United States. Our government itself protects our ability to protest.” - Jesse Johnson

“In an earlier blog I emphasized the importance of moral clarity for an effective protest. The case of George Floyd dripped with moral clarity — so much so that 78% of the country agreed that Derek Chauvin … should have been arrested immediately. However, such a national consensus and borderline unity was intolerable for the anarchists. It was necessary for them to muddy the moral waters to accomplish their objectives.

“Riots, as Haddock and Polby argue, ‘are apt to be a more or less recurrent, if unpredictable, feature of social life,’ not because of persistent injustice but because of the perverse incentives of rioters and poor public policy” - Acton