The Presbyterian Office of Public Witness, part of the Presbyterian Church (USA), says Good is part of ‘a sacred lineage of faithful witnesses who have risked and lost their lives in defense of human dignity.’
The question of offering pastoral care to immigrant detainees has become a theological and legal flashpoint since President Donald Trump launched his mass deportation effort last year.
Worshippers took a moment to pause, mourn, and sing, even as they continued to organize resistance efforts against ICE's escalated presence in Minneapolis.
Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor reacts to a Calvinist pastor in Minnesota to offered a blessing for ICE after the killing of Renee Good. Each generation has preachers excited to stand up as chaplains for the empire.
The faith-based networks, which developed organizing infrastructure and relationships during the Floyd era, are joined by newcomers as resistance efforts have intensified since Good’s shooting.
‘There was a request for clergy to show up’ at the scene, said one Minneapolis minister. ‘I was out the door.’
The fake ‘war on Christmas’ examples ginned up by culture war talk show hosts in recent years are nothing compared to misusing the birth of Jesus — and Christmas celebrations in general — to justify anti-immigrant policies.
‘We know that Jesus was born into a Roman imperial occupation, and pretty much immediately becomes a refugee in Egypt, has to flee, and faces political violence,’ the Rev. Michael Woolf said.
Preparing for ICE agents’ presence in the city, an interfaith coalition shared best practices for dealing with law enforcement at houses of worship.
As many as 500 people, a mix of clergy and other volunteers, have appeared at the training sessions on how to counter ICE.