Pastor Criticizes Trump Administration’s Church Surveillance as ‘Un-American’ and ‘Unholy’

G. Travis Norvell, a pastor at Judson Memorial Baptist Church in Minneapolis and adjunct faculty member at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, criticized the Trump administration for what he described as “surveillance and intimidation” against churches. In an op-ed published for MS NOW, Norvell detailed recent court filings that revealed the administration’s efforts to monitor several churches in Minnesota’s Twin Cities region during its “Operation Metro Surge” deportation initiative.

The filings included University Baptist Church, which believed it was protected from surveillance under a February court ruling that prohibited such activities without a warrant. The documents also disclosed that an undercover agent attended a meeting of ICE protesters at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, recorded license plate numbers, and cross-referenced the associated names with social media accounts to create files on attendees. The administration has defended its actions, asserting that they were not conducted during worship hours.

Norvell noted the irony of the government targeting mainline Protestant churches, including American Baptist, Evangelical Lutheran, and United Methodist congregations, amid a significant decline in their membership. He pointed out that in 1975, 30% of Americans were mainline Protestants, but that number has dropped to 8%, with only 5% of Gen Z and millennials identifying as mainliners. He questioned the administration’s rationale for surveilling these churches, suggesting that the government may have hoped to uncover reactions from congregants and clergy to its actions.

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.”

Source: Read the original report