The latest controversy out of Minneapolis-St. Paul shows once again that the left’s media stars are willing to cross lines ordinary Americans would never tolerate. Former CNN anchor Don Lemon embedded himself with a group of anti-ICE demonstrators and livestreamed as they carried out a surprise disruption of a Sunday service at a St. Paul church, an action that frightened worshippers and interrupted sacred worship. The footage and Lemon’s own on-camera remarks make it plain he knew the protesters were planning an “operation” before they walked into the sanctuary.
Americans of faith don’t expect the mainstream media to cheer on the desecration of a house of worship, and yet here we are: a pundit turned activist following an organized raid on a congregation and treating it like breaking news. Lemon’s livestream identified the tactic as “Operation Pull-Up” and name-checked local activist leaders who have a history of staging surprise actions, which undercuts any claim he was merely an impartial reporter. That clear foreknowledge places his behavior squarely in the realm of enabling, not journalism.
The federal government has taken notice, and rightly so — the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division is probing whether protesters violated federal protections for religious worship under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances framework. Civil-rights officials have signaled they’ll consider charges where activists invade or interfere with services, and public figures who embed with those mobs should not expect immunity just because they hold a media credential. If America still means anything, houses of worship must remain off-limits to partisan stunts.
Enter Bishop Patrick Wooden, the no-nonsense pastor from Raleigh who has made a name for himself calling out cultural rot and defending traditional Christian values from the pulpit. Wooden routinely rebukes celebrity sin, woke influence, and anyone who treats the church as a prop for political theater, so it should come as no surprise that conservative Christians are rallying behind clergy who won’t tolerate media-enabled intimidation. Pastors like Wooden are not interested in being polite to people who come to mock or harass their flocks; they’re protecting families and sacred space.
Some on the left will spin this as “exposure reporting,” but that’s a dangerous rationalization for behavior that leaves mothers and children shaken and a pastor wondering if his sanctuary is safe. This isn’t a debate about ideology; it’s common-sense decency — you do not storm a service to make a political point, and you certainly do not film it for clicks. Conservative Americans see the double standard: when conservative activists protest, they’re labeled extremists, but when leftist operatives treat a church like a set-piece, the media applauds.
If a bishop tells opportunistic TV hosts to stay away from his pulpit, that is not intolerance — it is protection. Clergy have a duty to guard their people, and when a public figure behaves like an accomplice to a mob, pastors have every right to draw a line. For anyone who values law, order, and religious liberty, the message is clear: stop treating churches as political stages and stop pretending that livestreamed chaos is “reporting.”
Don Lemon’s choice to embed with a troupe of disruptors was reckless and arrogant, and it exposed a media instinct that prizes spectacle over truth. Bishop Wooden and other pastors who stand up and say “don’t come here” are speaking for real Americans who want their children to be able to worship in peace. If the Justice Department follows through, let it be a reminder: sacred spaces are not props, and those who abuse them will be held accountable.
