Hate Watch Groups Voice Alarm About Sean Feucht Security Volunteers in Portland

Overstreet, in the video, said he contacted security teams that he knew were involved in churches. Overstreet said their “Christian security” did not engage in vulgar or confrontational behavior, nor did they invite the Proud Boys.

Portland activist Jake Dockter said not inviting the Proud Boys is not enough. “They should say: Let’s make sure we’re going to do this right. Let’s make sure we’re telling those people, ‘No, thank you. We don’t want you to be involved,’” Dockter told Religion News Service.

Feucht, in his Instagram video, advised: “For any believers, Christians out there, progressives, whatever you want to call yourself, woke people, that are defending antifa right now, you need to stop, because these guys are blatantly demonic.”

Dockter, who describes himself as a spiritual person from a Christian background, said such statements undermine the advocacy and the protests involving leaders of all faiths in Portland.

“There’s all of these amazing things that are happening in the faith community, but Sean Feucht is using the language of Christianity to his benefit,” Dockter said.

In the past year, Faith Bloc — a loose group of lay people from different faiths that emerged to support the protests that began after Floyd’s death — helped mutual aid groups, some of whose members identify as anti-fascists, connect with houses of worship to host donation drives and tent distribution centers to help fire evacuees during the Oregon wildfires last fall.

“There are members of antifa I know who are deeply faithful people of Christian faith,” said  Dockter, adding that they also belong to a range of other faiths.

“For the Christian people, we believe in the concept to love mercy and walk humbly, so we’re not walking around waving a flag with a cross on it, trying to call attention to ourselves,” he said. “We’re just trying to serve people.”

This article originally appeared here.