And yes, I say that as someone who used to be a card-carrying religious fundamentalist. I raised my family in it. I lived it at First Baptist Jacksonville. I believed deeply, sincerely, and confidently. I made decisions, sometimes big ones, based on convictions that I assumed were true because I was told they were true, wanted them to be true because there was a bible verse attached, and I had very convincing and maybe even sincere pastors confirming by beliefs.
Here’s the uncomfortable realization: the modern left has created its own version of religious fundamentalism, and the parallels are eerie.
These protesters didn’t wake up one morning and decide, “I think I’ll charge federal officers today.” They’ve been catechized. Indoctrinated. Told over and over by their "preachers" that ICE is the modern Gestapo, that federal agents are essentially Hitler’s stormtroopers, and that mass roundups are happening indiscriminately, with no law, no process, no restraint. Say it often enough. Say it loudly enough. Wrap it in moral outrage. Eventually, people believe it.
That’s fundamentalism. And the preachers are the leftist politicians in Minnesota and Congress and their allies in legacy media.
When you believe something absolutely, without evidence, without nuance, without the ability to question, you stop thinking. You train your brain to believe things that aren't true that you wish were true, or that must be true to maintain your belief structure. You start acting. And that’s where things get dangerous.
Let me be clear: there is nothing wrong with having strong convictions. There is nothing wrong with opposing immigration policy. There is nothing wrong with thinking ICE is heavy-handed, misguided, or even wrong. Adults can disagree about policy. That’s normal. That’s healthy.
What’s not healthy is believing, without proof, contrary to available evidence, that ICE agents are literal Nazis, and then acting as if that belief justifies screaming in their faces, physically interfering with them, resisting arrest, or, in some cases, bringing weapons into the mix. At that point, you’re not protesting policy; you’re role-playing a dystopian fantasy that someone else wrote for you.
I recognize this because I’ve seen it before; just with a different flag and different slogans.
Religious fundamentalists do this all the time. I've seen it happen to people I love. They make objectively bad life decisions because they’re convinced “God will work it out.” No planning. No wisdom. Ignoring evidence, ignoring "common knowledge" of human behavior. Just blind confidence that the universe will bend around their beliefs. When it doesn’t, they’re shocked. Offended. Angry. Someone else must be to blame, and they're left to pick up the pieces and make sense of what happened to them.
Now watch the left-wing version unfold in real time.
Religious fundamentalism has always followed a predictable structure, and that’s exactly why it’s so easy to spot once you’ve lived inside it. There are the preachers, the authoritative voices who tell you what is true and what must never be questioned. There are the elders and enforcers, the ones with institutional power who decide who’s in and who’s out. There are the faithful, repeating the approved language, and the converts, freshly awakened and often the most zealous of all. There are the slogans; short, emotionally loaded phrases that substitute for thinking. There are the sacred beliefs, declared to be rock-solid facts even when they rest on little more than repetition and moral intimidation. And, of course, there are the heretics; anyone who questions the narrative is treated as dangerous, immoral, or evil. Strip away the Bible verses and replace them with activist talking points, trade pastors for politicians and influencers, and swap altar calls for TikTok videos, and you’re looking at the exact same religious system. Different scripture. Same unquestioned certainty. Same demand for obedience.
Truth is federal officers are executing lawful duties. You may hate the law. You may hate the policy. But they are not freelance vigilantes. When protesters physically interfere with law enforcement, wrestling, resisting, blocking vehicles, screaming provocations, they’re not engaging in civil disobedience. They’re gambling with reality. And reality doesn’t care how righteous you feel. You won't find me in any circumstance wrestling one of our JSO officers, as I know where that will lead.
What, exactly, do they think is going to happen when you rush armed officers? That they’ll drop their badges, join hands, and sing protest songs? That the law will suddenly evaporate because you feel strongly enough?
This is what happens when moral certainty replaces critical thinking.
And here’s where the irony gets rich.
The only modern president who actually sent armed federal agents to seize a terrified child at gunpoint on live television, was Bill Clinton, during the seizure of Elian González. A five-year-old. Guns drawn. Door kicked in. Photo for the history books. That is not what is happening today in Minnesota, but the leftist faithful are told it is.
Funny how that part of history never seems to make the protest posters.
Instead, we get hyperventilated analogies, historical illiteracy, and the moral equivalent of speaking in tongues, lots of noise, zero clarity. Political "preachers" jazzing up the religious leftist faithful into making really bad choices.
I’m not defending ICE as flawless. I’m not sanctifying federal power. I’m pointing out something far more unsettling: when people are trained to believe lies with absolute conviction, they will eventually act on them. And when that happens, whether in churches or on the streets, people get hurt.
Fundamentalism isn’t confined to pews anymore. It just changed costumes.
And that should worry all of us.
