The ERLC posted a statement the day of the Cities Church incident, calling the anti-ICE protest a “gross violation of the First Amendment.”
The sanctity of church services should be inviolable. In America, the state has a responsibility, not just to let people gather to worship, but to protect people who are peacefully assembling to exercise their constitutional right to worship. What happened today at Cities Church in St. Paul is a gross violation of the First Amendment. The ERLC calls on Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison to denounce the protests that interrupted services today and to commit to protecting the right of this church—and all churches through Minnesota—to assemble free of threat.
These Are the Moments the ERLC Should Be ‘Front and Center’ Defending Religious Rights, Says Rice
Concluding the interview, ChurchLeaders asked if this is the type of situation the ERLC should be involved in.
Rice said the ERLC “got the message.”
“I’ve spoken to members of the board—they say they’ve gotten the message, [and] I’ve had very good conversations with some people,” he said, in reference to his 2025 motion to abolish the commission.
“I don’t want to criticize them in the moment except to say this,” Rice continued, acknowledging recent leadership changes. “That is what you want from an ERLC if you’re going to have it.”
“You want people who are bold, who are articulate, who are courageous, who are convictional,” he said, “and you would think in a moment like this, absolutely, they would be out front and center defending the rights of Southern Baptists and all Americans to worship freely without this kind of a violent intrusion.”
Explaining his use of the word “violent,” Rice said, “I do think it was violent. It wasn’t violent in that people got physically harmed, but it was very threatening. Believe me, it was very threatening.”
RELATED: SBC President Clint Pressley Is ‘Absolutely Enraged’ After Anti-ICE Protest Disrupts Church Service
“I think what Southern Baptists want to see from the ERLC is an organization that would be out front with a loud, courageous, convictional, unambiguous voice in moments like this, and they haven’t been for a decade,” he added. “Instead, they’ve been, you know, following way behind, if anything at all, and sometimes they’ve been on the wrong side, so [there needs] to be a complete change.”
The pastor said this is “a moment where we realize we need a voice like that.”
“I was told they released a statement. I don’t know that I’ve read it. We need statements, but boy, we need guys who are out active and speaking,” Rice said. “These are moments where we need people who are ready to step up and articulate what Baptists believe about religious liberty and defending that value that’s so important to all of us.”
Watch the full interview here.
