From Religion News Service’s (RNS) Jack Jenkins, more than a month ago:
Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.
“I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”
But when Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.
“We could hear them laughing,” Black said.
Sounds like the Romans – the Trump Administration and all of its supporters – and the Christians, those who want to do right but understand there are varying viewpoints.
Oh, and the Romans had a long history of being cruel, and, at least in myth, enjoying it.
This knowledge helps shape responses and persuading the undecided to join the anti-Trumpers. No matter how loud the Trumpers, like Erick Erickson, keep trumpeting their support.
