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MINNESOTA |
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Minnesota is a state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Christianity is the predominant religion in Minnesota, with approximately 63% of adults identifying as Christian as of early 2026. The state’s religious identity is deeply rooted in its history of European immigration, particularly from Scandinavia and Germany, which established a strong Lutheran and Catholic presence.
Major Denominations: Protestantism (42%): This is the largest branch, further divided into: Mainline Protestant (22%): Dominated by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) (12%) and the United Methodist Church. Evangelical Protestant (20%): Includes the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (5%), Assemblies of God (1%), and various non-denominational churches (5%). Roman Catholicism (22%): Represents the largest single denomination in the state. The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis is the largest jurisdiction, serving approximately 800,000 Catholics. Other Traditions: Smaller groups include Historically Black Protestant churches (1%), Latter-day Saints (<1%), and Orthodox Christian communities. Minnesota Council of Churches is a prominent ecumenical organization representing 27 member denominations that works on social justice, refugee services, and interfaith dialogue. Eagle Brook Church is the largest church in Minnesota, with multiple campuses across the Twin Cities metro area and over 22,000 weekly attendees. Notable Christian colleges include Bethlehem College & Seminary in Minneapolis, St. Olaf College (Lutheran) in Northfield, and the University of St. Thomas (Catholic) in St. Paul. The percentage of Christians has decreased from 84% in 2008 to 63% in 2026, mirrored by a rise in the "unaffiliated" population to roughly 30%. New immigrant communities have diversified the landscape, such as Hmong Christian churches and Oromo/Amhara Lutheran congregations. In early 2026, thousands of Christians in Saint Paul held a Palm Sunday march to the State Capitol to advocate for refugee rights and protest federal immigration policies. Recent legislative debates, such as those involving the Minnesota Human Rights Act, have sparked legal discussions regarding religious exemptions for faith-based schools and organizations.
Video of an ICE shooting shattered the agency’s story. Will it usher in accountability? On 14 January, in the thick of Donald Trump’s massive anti-immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, two deportation officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attempted to stop a car in traffic. They had identified the owner as an unauthorized immigrant, according to an FBI affidavit. The driver, later identified as Alfredo Aljorna, a Venezuelan national, sped off, hitting speeds of 80mph and eventually crashing into a parked car. He then took off running toward an apartment building where his roommate, Julio Sosa Celis, stood at the entrance holding a broad-bladed snow shovel. In the agency’s telling, what ensued next was a violent altercation in which ICE agents said they were attacked, and eventually fired at Sosa Celis. Both men were later charged with assaulting a federal officer. But the prosecution crumbled weeks later, as the evidence to support the claims of a violent altercation fell apart. (The Guardian; 4.11.26)READMORE>>>>>> More than 3,700 immigrants arrested during Operation Metro Surge, per new data More than 3,700 immigrants were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minnesota during Operation Metro Surge, according to newly-released agency data obtained by the Deportation Data Project. The data, obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request, provides the clearest picture yet of the operation. The data doesn’t contain the names of detainees, but provided their age, nationality, date and location of arrest. The operation’s intensity peaked in early January, when the 3,000 agents here were arresting more than 100 people per day. By Jan. 23, arrests dropped to fewer than 100 per day, and continued to decline as former Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino left and border czar Tom Homan took over as head of the operation. (Minnesota Reformer; 3.31.26)READMORE>>>>>> Evangelicals wrestle with faith and politics as ICE surge continues in Minnesota Some 80% of evangelical Christians voted for Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election. But as the immigration crackdown has unfolded in Minnesota — where federal agents killed observers Renee Good and Alex Pretti and where many ordinary people have risen up in protest — some evangelical Christians find Trump’s actions at odds with Jesus’ teachings. “As evangelical Christians, we’re known for placing a high priority on the sanctity of life and human dignity,” said Carl Nelson, president and CEO of Richfield-based Transform Minnesota, a 60-year-old network with hundreds of churches. “When we look at what is happening, we believe that any orderly or just approach to immigration enforcement has to adhere to those values.” (The Lawton Constitution; 2.8.26) READMORE>>>>> Club cancels MAGA comedian’s shows after he called Renee Good a “ret**ded lesbian” His talent agency is boycotting the club in protest after his vile set mocking the queer mom went viral. Creative Artists Agency, the mega Hollywood talent agency, is backing right-wing comedian Ben Bankas in his fight with a Minnesota comedy club. Laugh Camp in St. Paul canceled Bankas’ three-night run following an offensive riff on Renee Good that went viral. (LGBTQ Nation; 2.7.26) READMORE>>>>> This Is What Actual Christianity Is Supposed to Sound Like They were both 37 years old, murdered by federal agents in Minneapolis, less than three weeks apart. On January 7, Renee Good was sitting in her car when she was shot three times, including once in the head. On January 24, Alex Pretti was filming federal agents with his cell phone, exercising his First Amendment right to protest their presence peacefully. They shoved him to the ground and several of them beat him. An agent removed a handgun from Alex’s waistband, which he carried legally, and a few seconds after disarming him, 10 shots were fired in five seconds into his prone body on the ground. (New Republic; 2.7.26) READMORE>>>>> Don Lemon Got Arrested Over a Church Protest. It’s Not Just Any Church. Why is the Trump administration arresting journalists and activists over a protest inside a Minnesota church? The official reason the government cited Friday—when it arrested independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, as well as two others—was that they were part of a “coordinated attack” on Cities Church in St. Paul. It’s a strange claim: Videos from the incident, which occurred Jan. 18, showed protesters being loud in interrupting a worship service, but not physically touching anyone or damaging any property. The protest may have been unpleasant for those in the pews—videos showed at least one man haranguing people for their complicity in supporting ICE—but it’s hardly an “attack.” (Slate; 1.30.26) READMORE>>>>> Conversing with the code-red morally bankrupt mind of MAGA Remember the famous scene in A Few Good Men when Jack Nicholson’s character, Col. Jessup, bellows, “You’re goddamn right I ordered the code red!” Remember the stunned reaction of Lt. Kaffee, played by Tom Cruise? My recent experience wasn’t that dramatic, but my reaction to an online conversation was pretty close to Kaffee’s. I was reeling over the blurted reply to my dogged questioning; then something else popped on my screen. It was a video of Alex Pretti being shot to death by U.S. Border Patrol agents. That effectively ended my cross examination of a fragile man filled with bravado. .(Baptist News Global; 1.28.26) READMORE>>>>> MAGA evangelicals’ 'religious freedom' claims are falling apart Roughly two and one-half weeks after the fatal January 7 shooting of motorist Renee Nicole Good by a U.S. Immigration and Enforcement (ICE) agent, yet another Minneapolis resident was fatally shot during a protest in the city: 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti, who worked in an internal care unit in a Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House adviser Stephen Miller are claiming that Pretti was shot by U.S. Border Patrol agents in self-defense, noting that he was carrying a concealed weapon. But critics of President Donald Trump's ICE raids in Minneapolis are countering Pretti never pointed the gun at Border Patrol agents and that he was shot after being forced onto the ground and disarmed. . (MSN; 1.26.26) READMORE>>>>> January 25, 2026:
RANDOM NOTES & BYTES
 Zorek
Alex Jeffrey Pretti had a licensed gun on him. He did not use it but when ICE saw the gun they took it from him. THEN, after they had taken the gun...multiple ICE agents shot him multiple times. at close range.
Kristi Noem already delivered her prewritten speech and explanation for another death in Minneapolis. Before any investigation, of course. I just watched her whole media conference and quite frankly Kristi Noem is an evil liar. She likes to talk over people when she knows they disagree with her (saw her do that in congressional hearings also). She's lying about the WHOLE thing. She claims todays victim came with a weapon and attacked them. (There's no video of that). When asked if they would release the officers video she said no, it wasnt necessary. Noem is pure evil. Kent State Redux ICE soldiers from Trump are coming We're finally on our own This winter I hear the drumming Four dead in Minnesota Gotta get down to it, ICE are cutting us down Should have been gone long ago What if you knew her and found her dead in her car How can you run when you know? Noem lie lie lie lie, lie, lie Noem lie lie lie lie, lie, lie Noem lie lie lie lie, lie, lie Noem lie lie lie lie, lie, lie Gotta get down to it, Trump's ICE are cutting us down Should have been gone long ago What if you knew him and found him dead on the ground How can you run when you know? ICE soldiers from Trump are coming We're finally on our own This winter I hear the drumming Four dead in Minnesota Four dead in Minnesota (four) Four dead in Minnesota (I said four, I said four) Four dead in Minnesota (how many more?) Four dead in Minnesota (why?) Pastor calls Minnesota church protest divine judgment, as civil rights attorney arrested A US pastor has claimed that an anti-ICE protest in a Minnesota church was an act of divine judgement, similar to Jesus flipping tables in the temple. It comes as a second person has been arrested in connection with the incident. Attorney General Pam Bondi alleged Nekima Levy Armstrong "played a key role in organizing the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota". On Sunday, protestors entered Cities Church Minneapolis mid-service, chanting “ice OUT”. They alleged that one of its leaders, David Easterwood, has been working for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). (Premier Christianity; 1.22.26) READMORE>>>>> Episcopalians ‘protest faithfully’ against authoritarian abuses, bearing Christian witness. This month, after ICE’s killing of a 37-year-old Minnesota woman led to escalating clashes between protesters and federal immigration authorities, The Episcopal Church encouraged Episcopalians to review its “Protesting Faithfully” toolkit. Some Episcopal clergy and lay leaders already were putting the church’s guidelines and resource recommendations into practice, and they are placing even greater emphasis now on protesting faithfully. For the Rev. Wendy Abrahamson, a priest in the Diocese of Iowa, that means rooting her public witness in the example and teachings of Jesus. “If I’m involved in something, it’s important for me to really, truthfully make sure I’m doing it as someone who follows Jesus,” Abrahamson, rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Grinnell, told Episcopal News Service. “He talks about caring for those who are suffering. … There’s a lot of suffering going on right now.” (ENS; 1.20.26) READMORE>>>>> |
CHURCHES:
Minneapolis, Minnesota: Real Believers Faith Center -
Interfaith Alliance Condemns Brutal ICE Killing – Calls for Faith Communities to Reject Authoritarianism and Choose Love, Not ICE
January 8, 2026: On Wednesday in Minneapolis, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good during an otherwise nonviolent encounter. Video and eyewitness accounts, which show the woman attempting to flee from ICE as they aggressively attempted to enter her vehicle, contradict the Trump administration’s claims that agents acted in self-defense. The killing has intensified outrage and grief across Minnesota and the nation, as calls grow for accountability and an end to ICE crackdowns that are driving fear and putting communities in danger. Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, President and CEO of Interfaith Alliance, released the following statement: “This shocking killing is another tragic example of ICE’s brutality, and the deadly consequences of the Trump administration’s reckless and authoritarian immigration crackdown. Our hearts are with the victim’s loved ones and the Minneapolis community, as they grieve and respond to this horrific tragedy. Wednesday’s shooting is the latest example of what happens when an administration makes dehumanization, aggression, and cruelty the foundation of its agenda. The American people don’t want blood on the streets or armed government forces surrounding our homes, schools, and places of worship. Religious leaders and communities now face a fundamental choice: to choose love, not ICE. Across faith traditions, we are called to protect human dignity, care for the vulnerable, and resist systems that thrive on fear. When the Department of Homeland Security attempts to cloak ICE brutality in divine language, it draws directly from Christian nationalist ideology — one that teaches some human lives matter more than others. It’s an attempt to prime the public to accept violence against those deemed outsiders. People of faith must reject this distortion of religion and refuse to let our faiths be weaponized to serve the authoritarian whims of President Trump. The way forward demands both moral clarity and courageous action. Faith communities must speak out, stand in solidarity with immigrant families, and insist on accountability for this killing and other acts of violent repression. We will continue to take to the streets in peaceful and principled resistance to authoritarian abuse. Choosing love over ICE is not just a slogan — it is a moral stance rooted in the belief that safety comes from solidarity, not terror, and that our shared future depends on dignity, compassion, and justice for all.” January 20, 2026: The Beautiful Mess reported: This past Sunday, a group of anti-ICE protestors interrupted a Minneapolis church service over one of its pastors’ leadership of a local ICE field office. The activists entered the sanctuary mid-service, and without physical violence of any kind, loudly confronted Easterwood and those gathered, with the hypocrisy of a professed Christian minister’s partnering with a violent and lawless Government-sanctioned assault on human beings made in the image of God. They disrupted comfort for the sake of those in profound discomfort. And in the wake of the incident, celebrity pastors, Conservative denominations, Evangelical seminaries, and Right-Wing media outlets have predictably fallen all over themselves in performative histrionics, condemning the protestors for supposedly violating the sanctity of the sanctuary and the peace of the pew sitters. As reported by the Associated Press, the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention called the event “an unacceptable trauma,” lamenting that the service was ”forced to end prematurely” as protesters shouted “insults and accusations at youth, children, and families.”
January 20, 2026: Washington Post reported: When Nekima Levy Armstrong took a seat in church Sunday, it wasn’t at her usual congregation. She had come to Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, where the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s local field office, she had learned, was also one of the pastors. Roughly two dozen protesters had joined her to confront church leaders about pastor David Easterwood and his role with the ICE operation that has flooded the Twin Cities with federal agents, who for weeks have dragged people from their cars, stopped U.S. citizens, broken down doors and shot two people, killing one. |
January 9. 2026: Religion News Service reported: “I realized it was that Renee Good, our kids are in school together,” read a text I received in the last 24 hours from a friend in our Minneapolis community. I did not know Renee personally, but I feel the pain and sadness that’s now a lasting part of our city. That is precisely the point of the lived theology of neighborliness, something uniquely Minnesotan that presses us to show up for each other. I do not need to know you to love you and show compassion; knowing you are my neighbor is enough. This interconnectedness is reflected in the highest levels of our state government. In a press conference yesterday, Gov. Tim Walz said, “I saw it last night, I saw it during George Floyd, I’ve seen it throughout our history, when things look really bleak, it was Minnesotans first who held that line for the nation … to rise up as neighbors, and simply say we can look out for one another.” He connected this bond of neighborliness as a cornerstone for a healthy, thriving democracy that holds us together when we differ and disagree.
January 9, 2026: Christianity Today reported: In July of 1980, 34-year-old John Piper preached his first sermon as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church on the eastern edge of downtown Minneapolis. Surveying a sea of gray hair, he retained traces of South Carolina lilt in his tenor voice as he said, “I have nothing of abiding worth to say to you. But God does. And of that Word I hope and pray that I never tire of speaking. The life of the church depends on it.” Piper’s final sermon at the church fell on Easter Sunday of 2013. The gray-haired, balding pastor, then 67, looked out at a sea of younger faces and explained why this wouldn’t be a typical farewell sermon with personal reflections: “It has been our commitment in all these years together to preach not ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord (2 Corinthians 4:5). People ought not to go to church to hear the sentiments or the ideas of a man, but to hear the word of God.”
January 18, 2026: Public Witness reported: On Sunday (Jan. 18), an unplanned liturgy of “ICE out!” and “Justice for Renee Good!” erupted in the sanctuary of a Southern Baptist church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Activists marched into the building to protest the fact that one of the congregation’s pastors is the acting director of the St. Paul ICE field office. David Easterwood, who is one of the pastors listed on the website of Cities Church in St. Paul, appeared on C-SPAN in October as acting director for the St. Paul ICE field office. Speaking during a press conference with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Easterwood talked about being “proud” of leading his ICE team. Last week, Easterwood made news for defending ICE actions in a free speech lawsuit by several Minnesota residents who were arrested while attempting to observe ICE actions. On Friday, a federal judge ordered limits on ICE, declaring they cannot arrest or detain “persons who are engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity.”
January 19, 2026: Politic reported: Several faith leaders called urgently for protecting the rights of worshippers while also expressing compassion for migrants after anti-immigration enforcement protesters disrupted a service at a Southern Baptist church in Minnesota. About three dozen protesters entered the church during Sunday service at the Cities Church in St. Paul, some walking right up to the pulpit, others loudly chanting “ICE out” and “Renee Good,” referring to a woman who was fatally shot on Jan. 7 by an ICE agent in Minneapolis during an immigration enforcement operation.
July 26, 2025: USA Today reported: The former CEO of My Faith Votes, a nonprofit that encourages "Christians in America to vote in every election," has pleaded guilty to possessing child sexual abuse images, months after his arrest. Jason Christopher Yates, 56, pleaded guilty to two of eight felony counts of possession of child pornography on Tuesday, July 22, in a district court in McLeod County, Minnesota, according to a plea petition obtained by USA TODAY. Yates was initially charged and arrested in October 2024, according to Minnesota state court records. My Faith Votes told Religion News Service that Yates served as its CEO until August 2024.
July 26, 2025: USA Today reported: The former CEO of My Faith Votes, a nonprofit that encourages "Christians in America to vote in every election," has pleaded guilty to possessing child sexual abuse images, months after his arrest. Jason Christopher Yates, 56, pleaded guilty to two of eight felony counts of possession of child pornography on Tuesday, July 22, in a district court in McLeod County, Minnesota, according to a plea petition obtained by USA TODAY. Yates was initially charged and arrested in October 2024, according to Minnesota state court records. My Faith Votes told Religion News Service that Yates served as its CEO until August 2024.
February 29, 2024: Minnesota reformer reported: Nearly three in ten Minnesotans — including a majority of Republicans — hold Christian nationalist views, according to a new survey of all 50 states conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute. Christian nationalists support an aggressive fusion of church and state, and believe in a “Christian primacy in politics and law,” in the words of conservative commentator David French.
March 28, 2024: The federalist reported: In 2023, the Minnesota Legislature and governor added a new category of so-called human rights, “gender identity,” to the Minnesota Human Rights Act. They included no corresponding religious exemption, however, demonstrating their intent to deny religious freedom to Minnesota citizens, churches, and schools and to engage in persecuting Christians and some other religious bodies. If the state can tell churches and schools what they cannot say or do on “gender identity,” then it can tell churches and schools what they cannot say or do on other subjects too. In an attempt to correct this egregious law, Rep. Harry Niska, R-Ramsey, in this current session introduced an amendment to correct this violation of First Amendment rights.
August 8, 2024: Raw Story reported: Former Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) responded to the selection of Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) as the Democratic vice presidential nominee by claiming the Minnesota governor signed a law requiring students to "hate white people" in her state. "What they did is they infused all the school curriculum with wokeism," Bachmann told the War Room on Wednesday. "It's now mandated in law by Tim Walz." "It's basically teaching George Floyd hate whitey curriculum," she continued. "Everything is about race. It's hate white people. White people are evil. And that's in all of the curriculum."
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Jan 23, 2023: The Humanist reported: Like many secular advocates across the country, humanists in Minnesota are becoming increasingly concerned about the rise of Christian Nationalism and the impact of religious dogma on our legal system. In an effort to publicly support the Secular Government Caucus as it gets off the ground, the HumanistsMN Board agreed to pay for two billboards in the vicinity of the State Capitol in St. Paul starting in February. They both feature a photo of the Capitol, with the messages: “Protect Our Democracy. Keep Religion Out of Government” and “Reject Christian Nationalism. Keep Religion Out of Government.”
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February 14, 2023: Christianity Today reported: “There have been chronic patterns of violence over many years, but in the last three years … it’s been exacerbated by the fallout effect after the murder of George Floyd and everything that cascaded down from that,” said Carl Nelson, president of Transform Minnesota, an evangelical organization that brings churches together to wrestle with social issues.
May 20, 2022: It's been two years since George Floyd, a Black man, was murdered by a white Minneapolis police officer. Floyd’s death prompted many Minnesota institutions to pay new attention to racial disparities in Minnesota. Some Minnesota churches and Christian institutions also have been grappling with how they supported racial prejudice and inequality in the past and what they can do now to address it. (MPR)
Oct 3, 2022: As hundreds of people filed into Soldiers Field Park Sunday, Oct. 2, for an evangelical revival hosted by Rev. Franklin Graham, some Rochester pastors wanted to make sure visitors received a warm welcome. Representatives from almost a dozen different congregations lined the north entrance to the park at the memorial. They held signs proclaiming God loves everyone — including LGBTQ people. (Duluth News Tribune)