When “the right of the people to peaceably assemble and the right of the freedom of the press” comes into conflict with “the right of the free exercise of one’s religious faith”, which one wins? Well, I could point out that they all fall within the First Amendment, and the Freedom of Religion comes first in the amendment, but let’s explore further.
Of course, what I am referring to is when anti-ICE rioters, including former CNN anchor Don Lemon, stormed into a Minnesota church interrupting a worship service on Sunday January the 19th.
Thankfully, in addition to the U.S. Constitution, there is a federal law which provides additional protection or at least consequences for those who participate in such an event.
Now, I have heard some indication that the members of this church had forgiven the rioters. And if they are, as they profess to be, Christians, then I would assume they would. But even with forgiveness, should there be earthly consequences?
When I was running for State Representative the first time in 1998, I was also working as an Assistant Manager of Manufacturing on the night shift at Trim Masters Inc. when our Night Shift Manager came in wringing his hands saying, “I can’t get the blood off!”
Surprised, I asked him what was going on and apparently someone who had been lurking outside our factory had shot a police officer and my manager had tried to help save the officer. The officer who had been shot was Officer Regina Nickles. The shooter was John Paul Works, and he had been shot by another officer. Officer Nickles died that night while Mr. Works survived.
While I was campaigning that year, I ran into Officer Nickles mother, and although I will not relay the entire discussion in this article, I will relate that she had forgiven John Paul Works for killing her daughter and did not want him to receive the death penalty but did want him to spend his life in prison for his crimes.
That made me pause and think, I’m a Christian, but would I have the same conviction and strength to forgive someone who had taken one of my daughters from me? I just wasn’t sure.
The other thing that this event made me realize was that even though we may receive forgiveness, there are still earthly consequences for our actions at times.
Now before you start saying storming a church service and intimidating parishioners including children doesn’t compare to shooting a police officer, I agree. But even though they can receive forgiveness, they also may and indeed should face some earthly judgment.
For instance, The FACE ACT, which was used by Biden’s DOJ to prosecute and convict an 89-year-old woman named Eva Edl (who had survived a communist concentration camp) for praying inside an abortion clinic along with other pro-life individuals peacefully praying, can also be used to prosecute the anti-ICE rioters attack on the church.
The Act prohibits the use of force, threats, physical obstruction, or property damage to interfere with a person’s ability to practice their religion or access a place of worship. This includes actions that disrupt worship services, such as entering a house of worship during a service and causing the service to end.
It appears that the DOJ considers this event violated the FACE ACT and is reviewing possible avenues for prosecuting all those involved, some of whom have already been charged.
Regardless of which side of the immigration issue you fall, hopefully we can all agree that protestors should always be peaceful, should never block traffic or interfere with law enforcement, and most certainly should never disrupt a church service or intimidate those who are attending, especially children.
If we cannot agree on these key elements, sadly I’m not sure how we can have a calm rational conversation. And if for some reason, close to half the U.S. population can’t agree with these basic truths, then we are going to need a lot more prayer for this nation to remain standing. Let us pray for our leaders and this nation that we can come together.
There are some in the Kentucky General Assembly who are thankful for the existence of the FACE act on a federal level, but have some concern that we do not have something similar to protect religious worship at the state level. And what if the next president wants to go back to prosecuting peaceful pro-life members and people of faith and do nothing to protect those same people of faith from harassment and intimidation as we saw in the previous presidential administration?
With that in mind, KY Representative Mitch Whitaker who represents the 94th House District has introduced HB540 which hopes to resolve these concerns. HB540 would make any interference with a religious service a Class A misdemeanor as well as create a civil cause of action (meaning they can be sued).
Over the next several weeks, the Commonwealth Policy Center will be following HB540’s progress and updating constituents through our social medias and website. To follow along, visit our website and follow us on Facebook and X.