Sudden respect for religion over the (previously) public airwaves?
In the wake of the confrontations in left-wing Minneapolis over the shooting death by an immigration enforcement officer of protester Renee Good, who drove toward the officer after being given a lawful command to exit her vehicle, NPR is discovering the virtues of activist faith, at least when it can be turned to anti-Trump and left-wing ends (as opposed to stopping abortion).
But first, note how NPR’s Jaclyn Diaz’s story on Saturday helpfully reduced leftist protest violence in Minneapolis, which included fireworks and rock-throwing, to a benign-seeming "throwing snowballs at federal agents and blocking ICE vehicles."
NPR's Weekend Edition’s church-based story appeared Sunday morning: “Amid ICE clashes, New Hampshire bishop urges clergy to prepare their wills.” Reporter Tovia Smith’s piece wasn’t wholly one-sided, but her coverage ennobled with an unearned halo of piety the anti-immigration enforcement mobs currently out in the streets in Minneapolis and other leftist enclaves.
A New Hampshire Episcopal bishop's stark warning to his clergy is resonating across the nation, drawing fervent praise from some and rebukes from others.
Bishop Rob Hirschfeld was one of several community and faith leaders gathered in Concord, N.H., for a vigil for Renee Macklin Good just days after she was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis.
Hirschfeld called out the "cruelty, the injustice and the horror … unleashed in Minneapolis," and warned his clergy to prepare for "a new era of martyrdom."
"I've asked them to get their affairs in order to make sure they have their wills written," he said, "because it may be that now is no longer the time for statements, but for us with our bodies to stand between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable."
….
Wells, a community organizer who regularly prays outside ICE offices, said he and many others took it as a great relief – and a validation of sorts – to hear the bishop speaking openly about the mounting anxiety felt by faith leaders around the nation who've been stepping up their public prayers and protests against ICE, and getting pelted with pepper rounds, roughed up and arrested.
That's quite a change from this 1995 NPR take on the Christian belief of The Rapture: "The evaporation of four million people who believe this crap would leave the world an instantly better place.”
It wasn’t all positive:
Others, however, took issue with the bishop's words.
"My initial reaction is 'Oh boy, this isn't diffusing tension at all. This feels like a war cry," said the Reverend Tom Gartin of Faith Episcopal Church who heard about the bishop's comments from his parish in Cameron Park, California.
Hirschfeld’s pomposity seems as extreme as his paranoia, as when he said Christians today are “increasingly called to go into places that feel dangerous." His example? His fear of a neighbor’s political yard sign, presumably one Trump-related.
That could be anything, he said, from his venture into the home of a neighbor whose political yard signs made him feel unsafe, to attending public demonstrations against ICE.
Hirschfeld demonstrated religious condescension, liberal style, to NPR's approval:
"It's definitely our Christian responsibility to extend love even to our enemies," he said, and to love all God's children, even those who may be "swept up in a maelstrom of hatred and fear and power that is not godly."
Hirschfeld added, "I pray for everyone's conversion of heart."
NPR also linked to a Central Florida Public Media piece by Joe Mario Pedersen, which noted “ICE arrests in Orange County are on the rise, faith leaders call for action. Pedersen cited radical Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida.
On Thursday, Democratic Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost posted on social media about reports of increased ICE activity in parts of Orange County, urging residents to remember their rights.
Did Frost push doxxing-lite tactic here, and did NPR skip over it?
“We’ve also received reports of heavy ice activity at certain hotels in the area, as well,” Frost said. “They have made pretty large hotel reservations in surrounding hotels, as well.”
Florida’s Lt. Gov. Jay Collins responded: “If you threaten or DOX our law enforcement, including ICE, you are proving that you’re unfit to lead.”
