EPISCOPAL BISHOP AND SOUTHERN BAPTIST LEADER CLASH OVER PROTESTERS' DISRUPTION OF CHURCH SERVICE

By David W. Virtue, DD

www.virtueonline.org

January 25, 2026

Episcopal Bishop of Minnesota Craig Loya has refused to condemn protesters who disrupted an evangelical church service in Minnesota, while Southern Baptist leader Dr. Albert Mohler condemned the incident as a violation of freedom of worship and assembly.

"[It is] an unspeakably evil intrusion of a leftist mob into a Christian worship service today in Minneapolis and must be called out for what it is – and Federal authorities should be fast and effective in response," Mohler wrote in a post across multiple platforms, including X and Threads. Mohler is president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The church in question, Cities Church in St. Paul, is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in America. The protesters claimed that the church's pastor, Jonathan Parnell, also serves as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in St. Paul.

Activists with the Racial Justice Network disrupted the service in an incident videotaped by former CNN anchor Don Lemon. They entered the sanctuary, reportedly terrifying children, and chanted, "Who shut this down? We shut this down!"

Bishop's Response

When asked by a CNN reporter whether the disruption was justified, Bishop Loya declined to condemn it directly.

"People are also looking at images of a protest in a church, people going in and saying look, the pastor's affiliated with ICE or whatever they believe, and interrupting services," the reporter noted. "Do you think that was the right thing to do?"

Rather than saying no, the bishop hedged.

"I think part of what you're seeing in that protest speaks to the depth of pain that people are experiencing right now in Minnesota," Bishop Loya said. "And the, really, desperation and longing to end what ICE is doing in our communities and to many of us and our neighbors."

Questions of Religious Freedom

The disruption raises questions about the boundaries of protest. Critics argue that interrupting a church service violates the First Amendment rights of the congregation. Had the protesters waited until the service concluded and congregants were leaving, they could have made their point without infringing on others' right to worship. Instead, they entered the sanctuary and boasted about shutting down the service. The pastor politely asked the protesters to leave.

The deeper question is why other American religious leaders have not condemned the invasion of a sacred space in pursuit of a political agenda. A house of worship is not a university forum or debating society.

Even if one accepts Minnesota Governor Tim Walz's characterization of President Donald Trump as being "at war with Minnesota" and ICE as an "occupation," that still does not give protesters the right to disrupt a church service.

Mohler's Defense of Church Sanctity

Mohler discussed the church protest in depth on his podcast, The Briefing, and addressed his critics, one of whom suggested that Jesus's expulsion of the money changers from the temple was a moral equivalent to the protesters' actions.

"People are going to see what they want to see," he said of the videos. "But let me just tell you, they can't deny in the case of this invasion of the church that there was no right of these protesters to enter the private space, to enter and disrupt evangelical worship."

Mohler also defended the legitimacy of government authority and law enforcement.

"We do believe in legitimate government, Romans 13," he said. "We really do believe in legitimate government action, and we really do believe that certified law enforcement agents of the government of the United States of America need to be recognized for their authority and for the legitimacy of their mission. That doesn't mean that anyone in the federal government is beyond investigation or accountability. It does mean that if we do not have basic order and respect for our federal government all the way down, even to all the initials for all those federal agencies, if we don't have respect for law enforcement at the federal level, no place is going to be safe."

Law enforcement arrested at least three of the alleged ringleaders behind the disruption.

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