The answer to that question is yes, and a recent real-life church experience can help explain how that can happen. The principles we can glean from that occurrence are instructive. And it is the principles, not the precise details of the event, that I want to emphasize.
The storming of Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, on the morning of Sunday, Jan. 18, by protestors was a shocking event. Perhaps we shouldn’t have found it so appalling; Jesus did warn us that the world would hate us.
The reprehensible rabble that surged into the church admitted their purposes were to disrupt the worship service, physically impede movement, intimidate the church members, frighten children and youngsters, chant, scream, and call the worshippers “white supremacists.” Their actions and accusations revealed who they really were — terrorists — in the truest sense of that word.
When requested and then ordered to leave, they refused to do so for an extended period. Many of those so-called “protestors” behaved like vicious, depraved beings, acting on their ill-conceived notions of self-righteousness and moral superiority.
As we speak, several of these bad actors have been charged with federal crimes related to their actions, and more indictments against others are expected. There are also local law enforcement actions against the protestors that could be brought, such as trespassing, disorderly conduct, harassment, and others. At this point, however, it appears that those local charges will not be lodged due to the refusal of local officials to enforce the laws in their jurisdictions, although the oaths they took beg for that action.
I want to address one aspect of those potential local laws: the offense of trespassing. Many people, through no fault of their own, can’t understand how a member of the general public can be invited — either by an express invitation from the church or a church member or by an implicit invitation (churches are eager for people to come into their services to worship and hear the gospel and they tend to make that well known) — and subsequently be accused by the church of trespassing.
Hypothetical here. Had those protesters entered the church with the intent and commensurate behavior to hear the message and/or engage in praise and worship, they would not have been asked to leave. So then, how did their unruly behavior convert their status from attendees to trespassers? After all, the church is a public venue open to the general public to visit and participate.
And therein lies the problem in the assessment of this issue. A church is not a public place. Legally, it is a private entity, and its property is privately owned. While members of the public are invited and welcomed, no one may enter or remain without the church’s permission.
Once the protesters showed their true colors and began their disruptive and unruly behavior, the church did not want their presence. It was wholly within the church’s moral, ethical, and legal right to demand that the troublemakers leave immediately. When they failed to leave upon the church’s demand, the offense of trespass was committed, and law enforcement action was justified.
Key takeaways here. A church is desirous of people — not just church members but members of the general public — to join in its services, worship corporately, and hear the gospel. Explicit and implicit invitations are evidence of that desire. But, again, that does not change the church’s fundamental nature of legally being a private entity, owning private property, and being in control of who may be on church property and in church facilities.
The bottom line: No one may enter or remain on church property without the church’s permission. Such is the prerogative of owners of private property. Churches are not second-rate community citizens who must allow their Lord and themselves to be slandered, intimidated, and trodden upon in their sanctuaries. For if the Lord is present, it is holy ground.
— Larry Page is executive director of the Arkansas Faith & Ethics Council. He is a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law and previously served as a deputy prosecuting attorney and as a staff attorney for the Arkansas Baptist Foundation.
