A theologian's condemnation of a church protest ignited a firestorm of social media debate, revealing deep cultural and political divides across platforms.
America’s cultural and political divide was on full display Sunday when theologian Albert Mohler condemned the protests inside a Minneapolis church, sparking widespread applause for his comments on X/Twitter but sharp criticism on Threads.
Mohler was commenting on anti-ICE protesters who stormed a morning service at Cities Church in Minneapolis, confronting congregants and interrupting worship in protest of a pastor’s alleged ties to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The church is Southern Baptist. Activists with the Racial Justice Network disrupted the service and were videotaped by former CNN anchor Don Lemon.
“This cannot be a house of God while harboring someone directing ICE agents to wreak havoc on our community,” protester Nekima Levy-Armstrong told Lemon.
But Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said the issue is one of freedom of worship and assembly.
“I normally do not post to social media on the Lord’s Day, but the unspeakably evil intrusion of a leftist mob into a Christian worship service today in Minneapolis must be called out for what it is – and Federal authorities should be fast and effective in response,” Mohler wrote in a post that was posted across multiple platforms, including X and Threads.
“Yes. Thank you for speaking to this pastors must call this out to ensure this does not become normal in our country,” one person wrote.
“I agree and thank you for speaking up,” another wrote.
Yet on Threads, which is owned by Meta, the reaction was the polar opposite. Threads became a popular alternative for many liberals after Elon Musk purchased X/Twitter. Most of the roughly 150 comments criticized Mohler.
“If you, as a Christian leader, have more of an issue with a service being interrupted than that the pastor is a part of a state-sponsored movement to terrorize and abuse immigrants, you have completely and totally missed the point of Jesus,” one person on Threads wrote.
“Jesus would have flipped that table, and you should too, sir,” another person on Threads wrote. “I humbly ask you to repent of what you've said here.”
Mohler discussed the church protest in depth on Monday on his podcast,
“People are going to see what they want to see,” he said of the videos of the protests. “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.”
He 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 of the federal area, no place is going to be safe.”
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