The Founding Fathers, in their wisdom, determined that a free society must be able to worship unencumbered and unregulated by any government.
As a matter of very well-documented and litigated fact, the First Amendment states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion; or prohibiting the free exercise thereof …”
Along with the right to peaceable assembly and petition the government for grievances, there’s the freedom of the press, which I’m a big fan of, and freedom of speech, which everyone is a fan of … sorta.
Because of the focus on the ever-growing rift between political parties and their respective minions, the idea of free speech has not only been under a microscope, but under attack. Who hasn’t seen people on each side of any disagreement call for their opponents to be muzzled?
But free speech, and by extension the free exchange of ideas, apparently, has collided with its sister right, religion. And in my estimation, for ridiculous and ignorant reasons, as shown by the recent incident in Minneapolis where a mob of anti-ICE protestors stormed a church to harass the worshippers.
Freedom of the press and freedom of assembly were tossed into that particular mix, by the way, since “journalist” Don Lemon, recently let go from CNN, walked in with the mob that was assembled with the specific purpose of interrupting the service and haranguing the churchgoers. (It has been discovered that this event was planned; Lemon himself was made aware of it earlier.)
Because I’m in the business, I feel the actions of Mr. Lemon running around shoving a microphone and camera in the faces of everyone in the church are the antithesis of journalism. His participation in the event was not designed to gather information, but in my opinion was there to create a sensationalized version of the event to generate interest in his podcast, and to lend his “name” and “fame” to give the protest legitimacy.
(Lemon has in the past said that crossing the border illegally is not a crime, that a misdemeanor offense is not a criminal offense.)
That alone is cause for disgust for anyone with any credibility.
But where this event really went off the rails for me was the outright invasion of a church service.
The organizer of this “protest,” Nekima Levy Armstrong, said this was organized because a pastor of this church, David Easterwood, was said to have had a role that was connected with ICE, and in her view, Easterwood’s two roles were mutually exclusive.
Since the beginning of this country, all the way back to the pilgrims, religious freedom has been one of the hallmarks of our society. That’s why it’s enshrined in the Constitution, and is deemed equally important as speech, assembly, etc. To claim the moral high ground of the right to free speech when you disagree with what the pastor does when he is not preaching is incomprehensible to me.
Armstrong claimed that Eastwood’s day job was incompatible to Christian teachings regarding justice and compassion, and that the Bible also celebrated welcoming immigrants.
This idea rankles me in a way I can’t really explain; that someone would berate a Christian, would disrupt a worship service because of her interpretation of the teachings of the Christ, is completely oxymoronic.
Within the confines of the First Amendment, protesting is a protected activity, provided it is done peacefully. But if your indignation causes you to goosestep into a church and start casting aspersions, then you completely missed the point of Christian teachings.
Don’t like ICE? Fine. Let your voice be heard. But remember the age-old adage that your rights to speech, press, assembly and the like end where mine begin.
Tony Farkas is editor of the San Jacinto News-Times and the Trinity County News-Standard, sister newspapers in the Polk County Publishing Group. He can be reached at tony@polkcountypublishing.com.
