The escalating campaign to intimidate and silence American Christians just took an ominous turn in St. Paul, Minnesota — and the name at the center of it is William Kelly, a so-called “independent journalist” and self-described combat veteran whose track record looks far more like that of a professional agitator than a reporter.
Kelly, already known to D.C.-area congregations for his months-long harassment outside Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s church, has now emerged as a key ringleader in the storming of Cities Church on Sunday — a Southern Baptist congregation led by Pastor Jonathan Parnell, and co-founded by theologian Joe Rigney.
Video shows Kelly marching into the sanctuary with a mob of BLM-affiliated activists, shouting “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” and branding parishioners “fake Christians.” Their crime? Holding a worship service — in a building that happens to employ a pastor who also serves as an ICE field director. The service was abruptly ended after children began crying, some reportedly traumatized. Parents hustled their families out of the sanctuary — not due to fire, weather, or threat of violence from a criminal — but from political theater disguised as protest.
Make no mistake: this was not a demonstration. It was a coordinated attempt to disrupt and desecrate religious worship. And Kelly, whose tactics include screaming at families, blasting sound systems to drown out singing, and even triggering medical emergencies with bullhorns, is not acting alone.
I am getting this question a lot—where are the police? And a key part of my reporting this morning is that state and local police in Minnesota witnessed what was happening at the Southern Baptist Church and did not arrest anyone. You’ve seen the videos. Determine for yourself… https://t.co/Nc96StPlGi pic.twitter.com/oYZMOXatYW
— Megan Basham (@megbasham) January 19, 2026
According to Rigney, Kelly has a history with the D.C. branch of Christ Church and is part of a larger, professional protest network that moves with remarkable speed and coordination when a new political target emerges. From George Floyd in 2020 to Renee Good in 2026, these groups don’t just protest — they weaponize disruption to generate outrage and pressure institutions into submission.
But churches are not ICE field offices. They are not battlegrounds for ideological warfare. They are constitutionally protected spaces where Americans, regardless of political stripe, have the right to gather without being shouted down by activists who pretend the First Amendment starts and ends with them.
The Department of Justice, under the direction of Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, is now investigating the protest for potential violations of the FACE Act — the same federal law that protects clinics and religious facilities from targeted interference. Dhillon didn’t mince words, calling the act “unAmerican and outrageous.” She’s right.
And yet, local Minneapolis law enforcement did nothing — even after witnessing the disruption unfold. There were no immediate arrests. No citations. Just a vague statement about balancing free speech and the right to worship — as if those two principles were somehow at odds.
They’re not. The First Amendment doesn’t grant anyone the right to invade a church and scream down children during prayer. It protects both speech and worship. What happened in St. Paul was not protected speech — it was ideological intimidation, and it crossed the line into criminal behavior.
Rigney, for his part, sees the parallels with Acts of the Apostles, where mobs were stirred by falsehoods, and authorities turned a blind eye. His response? “Boldness.” And that’s the proper Christian response to tyranny dressed in protest gear.
But a parallel secular response is needed too: prosecution. Because if we allow politically aligned mobs to target churches, traumatize children, and silence pastors without consequence, then we aren’t just surrendering religious liberty — we’re surrendering civil society itself.
