Shane Claiborne appears to liken Cities Church protest to Jesus

Evangelical author and left-leaning activist Shane Claiborne appeared to defend the recent anti-ICE protest at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, while likening it to Jesus Christ cleansing the temple.

“Jesus literally staged a protest IN THE TEMPLE. Flipped some tables… and drove out the folks pretending to be holy,” Claiborne wrote in an X post Wednesday, a day before federal agents arrested three of the activists involved with the protest. “It seems pretty clear that one of the most offensive things to God is when people use religion to cover up their greed and bigotry. Rebuke it. In the name of Jesus.”

The Irresistible Revolution author’s post included a fake photo of a Fox News chyron that falsely claims Attorney General Pam Bondi said, “Jesus Christ would never have stormed a church in protest of the people who were running it.”

While Bondi has condemned the church protest as a violation of federal law, there is no evidence she made the quote attributed to her in the meme. On Thursday, Bondi announced the arrest of three activists associated with the protest and warned against disrupting houses of worship.

Jesus literally staged a protest
IN
THE
TEMPLE.

Flipped some tables… and drove out the folks pretending to be holy.

It seems pretty clear that one of the most offensive things to God is when people use religion to cover up their greed and bigotry.

Rebuke it. In the name of… pic.twitter.com/4QFq7KF9yV

— Shane Claiborne (@ShaneClaiborne) January 21, 2026

Claiborne, who signed his name with other left-leaning Evangelicals last year to a letter denouncing the Trump administration for deporting illegal immigrants, also promoted an event organized by clergy in the Twin Cities intended “to stand in solidarity against ICE raids.”

“Salt melts ice, even in Minnesota! Praying for all there — and for everyone,” he added.

Claiborne’s Bondi post, which has amassed more than 512,000 views as of Friday morning, was met with pushback from some X users.

“Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape,” wrote Center for Baptist Leadership Executive Director William Wolfe, jokingly referencing the crafty, manipulative demon in C.S. Lewis’ famous book, The Screwtape Letters.

“Sure, frightening children and yelling at young mothers while impeding a constitutionally protected service in violation of federal law is definitely Christlike, you fraud. Shame on you,” said Andrew T. Walker, an ethics and public theology professor at The Southern Baptist University in Louisville, Kentucky.

“If you can’t see the difference between the Temple cleansing and what happened at Cities Church, then your eyes are closed shut to the truth. Jesus is the incarnate God who never errs. The mob that descended on Cities Church were godless and profane accusers of the brethren (Rev. 12:10),” wrote the Rev. Denny Burk, also a professor at The Southern Baptist Seminary and an associate pastor at Kenwood Baptist in Louisville, Kentucky.

“Don’t compare them to Jesus. Unregenerate priests and a corrupt Sanhedrin presided over the Temple at the time of Jesus. Faithful pastors lead the congregation called Cities Church. Moneychanging and other profane activities were going on in the Temple precincts when Jesus cleared it,” Burk continued.

“Faithful preaching and worship were underway at Cities Church when a radical mob cleared them out. The difference between the two occasions is the difference between darkness and light,” he added.

Carl E. Olson, an author who serves as an editor at Catholic World Report, said to draw “a parallel between the holy actions of the Incarnate Word — who is the new and everlasting Temple — with the despicable tactics of crude, leftist hooligans is pathetic.”

“Defending it is just as bad, or even worse, because (again) it’s an attempt to portray criminal acts as somehow divinely inspired and oriented. That is, in a nutshell, demonic vomit,” he added.

“In Claiborne’s Christianity, Jesus driving the thieving merchants out of the temple and raving lunatics crashing a church service while driving the children to tears are one and the same,” said the popular Christian X account Protestia.

Claiborne’s comparison of the church disruption to Jesus echoed the defense from alleged protest organizer Chauntyll Louisa Allen, a Black Lives Matter leader and member of the Saint Paul Public Schools Board of Education, who was one of the activists taken into federal custody Thursday.

“I grew up in the church and one of the things that I remember about Jesus Christ is that when things weren’t going right in the church, he went in and he flipped tables,” she told TMZ earlier this week.

Former CNN host Don Lemon, who accompanied the protesters but whose complaint from the U.S. Department of Justice was reportedly blocked by a federal magistrate judge, also recently likened the church storming to the temple cleansing.

“Jesus turned the tables over in the temple, right? He flipped the tables because He was tired of them not doing what they’re supposed to do in His Father’s house, and not living up to the tenets of Christianity,”  Lemon said during a Monday appearance on the liberal “I’ve Had It” podcast. He went on to imply the worshipers at Cities Church were “entitled” white supremacist homophobes.

Many Christian commentators agree that the episode in all four Gospels of Jesus cleansing of the Court of the Gentiles, which was the court furthest from the temple, was a unique task suited only to Him that affirmed His authority and messianic role.