Sunday worship sounded a little unusual at Cities Church last month. After news spread that one of the church’s ministers, David Easterwood, is the acting director of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in St. Paul, Minnesota, protesters interrupted services on January 18. Days prior, the ACLU had named Easterwood in a class-action lawsuit alleging racial profiling and unlawful arrests.

In response to the protest, Trump officials have unleashed their own version of that old-time religion. Harmeet Dhillon of the Department of Justice accused the group of “desecrating a house of worship,” and Attorney General Pam Bondi has charged activists — and some journalists, including Don Lemon — under Section 241, an anti-KKK law. The church itself said the protest “is protected by neither the Christian Scriptures nor the laws of this nation.” But January’s demonstration was no church riot, whatever Bondi claims. Some activists cited the example of Christ, who drove money changers from the temple with a whip. “Just like Jesus did, we went into that church and flipped tables. Peacefully,” said one participant, while another, Nekima Levy Armstrong, is an ordained minister. “Genuine” Christianity is “the call to love thy neighbor as you love yourself,” Armstrong told the Washington Post.

A battle within the American church has spilled out into the streets. Every time the Department of Homeland Security posts a Bible verse on its propaganda, the stakes become a little clearer. In the hands of the right wing, doctrine can be a weapon. Others display a more compassionate faith. On Saturday, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery condemned “the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of........

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