Pastors at a protest? That's the scene at anti-Trump rallies across the US. [View all]

Source: USA Today

Oct. 26, 2025, 5:05 p.m. ET


Federal officers recently shot Rev. Jorge Bautista with a pepper ball at close range, sending him reeling, with orange powder caking his face and clothing. A month earlier, Presbyterian pastor David Black was hit in the head with a pepper ball while praying outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Chicago. The video, which circled the globe after it was reported on by Religion News Service, caused an outcry.

Since early summer, pastors, ministers, imams, rabbis and priests have stood between police and protesters in Los Angeles. They've been arrested by ICE agents in Chicago and Portland, and taken into custody at the U.S. Capitol and in congressional offices. On Oct. 18, leaders of all faiths spoke, prayed and marched at the peaceful "No Kings" rallies, held in thousands of communities across the U.S.

Conservative evangelical Christians have long been a dominant force in U.S. politics and overwhelmingly back the Trump administration and its current actions. But increasingly, moderate and progressive Christians and other faith communities are pushing back, saying it's time to remind the country of religion’s role in caring for the poor and the stranger, especially as segments of the Republican Party increasingly embrace Christian Nationalism ‒ the belief that the secular government should favor Christianity or even be replaced by it.

And the Trump administration's intense focus on deporting immigrants, taking away health coverage for millions of Americans and walking back human and civil rights makes this a moment for religious leaders to return to their historic role at the front of protest movements, leaders across a variety of faiths told USA TODAY.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/10/26/faith-leaders-trump-ice-tactics-immoral/86817168007/