'Un-American': Pastor tears into 'unholy' attack on churches

The Trump administration perpetrated “surveillance and intimidation” against numerous churches, with one pastor chastising this assault as “unholy — and un-American” in a new piece for MS NOW.

G. Travis Norvell serves as a pastor for the Judson Memorial Baptist Church in Minneapolis, as well as an adjunct faculty member at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. On Monday morning, he published an op-ed for MS NOW breaking down the recent court filings that revealed the administration’s efforts to surveil several churches in Minnesota's Twin Cities region during its "Operation Metro Surge" deportation push.

As Norvell pointed out, one of the churches listed in the filings, University Baptist Church, was under the impression that it was protected from surveillance by a February court ruling barring such activities without a warrant. They also revealed that, at the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, "an undercover agent attended a meeting of ICE protesters at the church, recorded license plate numbers and then cross referenced the associated names with social media accounts to create files on the people who’d attended." The administration has since attempted to defend itself, claiming that its actions were not undertaken during hours when worship was taking place.

Norvell suggested that this surveillance push was particularly "comical" in light of the "precipitous decline" in Protestant membership in the last 50 years.

"As troubling as it is learning the federal government was tracking, documenting, and investigating people inside houses of worship, it’s also comical to snoop into the activities of mainline Protestant Churches (American Baptist, Disciples of Christ, Episcopalian, Evangelical Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ and United Methodist)," he explained. "Has no one in the U.S. government read the reports of the precipitous decline of our churches? In 1975, 30% of Americans were mainline Protestants, now we are 8% (only 5% of Gen Z and millennials are mainliners). And yet, we were targeted for surveillance and intimidation."

He continued: "I keep asking myself what the federal government hoped to discover. I may never know. But here’s what I hope they saw: At the beginning of Operation Metro Surge they would have discovered parishioners and clergy shocked by the actions of the government, churches mourning the loss of members and neighbors who either self-deported, were snatched by the government or simply disappeared. They may have noticed that some of these churches were facing financial hardship, declining attendance and were on the verge of closing."

Norvell further detailed how the administration's actions sparked an outpouring in support for immigrants in the area, as "the more atrocious the federal government’s actions, the louder we expressed our love for our neighbors." In effect, the deportation surge in the Twin Cities "sparked" something like a Christian "revival," the pastor explained.

"Sunday after Sunday, pastors like me focused our sermons on loving our neighbors," he wrote. "As soon as the benediction was offered, parishioners got to work on making that love plain. They chose who would make casseroles, pick up kids, help out with homework, deliver medications or supplies, track ICE activity, deliver warm clothing, pass out hand warmers, check in on neighbors, take up funds for rent assistance, lobby local, state, and national politicians, use whatever leverage or pull or access to power they had for the common good."

He added later: "The transformation has continued throughout the Twin Cities. I have yet to find a church that more openly proclaimed love for their neighbor and didn’t experience growth... This love has troubled, is troubling and will continue to trouble the current administration. This love can’t be intimidated or turned away. Because this is a love which casts out fear."