Thread by @FaithfullyBP

At today’s #MoralWitnessWednesday, Secret Service told hundreds of clergy it would be a felony if we set foot on Pennsylvania Ave to bring our petition near the White House.

While kidnapping and imprisoning children is evidently “lawful,” protesting that violence is a crime.

I spoke with @jackmjenkins, he said that the only time they shut Pennsylvania Ave. is if there is a threat to the President. He asked the agents if there was such a threat, they said, “No.”

But, they’re wrong: We were denied access precisely because we threaten the presidency.

The image of clergy getting arrested in front of the White House is a threat because it highlights the deep immorality and violence that define the Trump presidency; abuses he’d prefer were shrouded in darkness.

It threatens his presidency when people see leaders of every faith tradition joining together because—whatever our differences—all of our holy texts say it is a crime against God to oppress poor people, to cage migrants, to poison the water and the Earth.

It’s a threat to members of Congress when clergy remind them that, if you remain silent while those in power inflict violence on the vulnerable, you are complicit to that violence.

And it’s a threat to the entire conservative project that, for decades, has pretended it had a monopoly on faith.

By defending Trump’s patent immorality, they expose the thirst for power and will to dominate that has always undergirded the religious right.

Clergy like @RevDrBarber, @liztheo, @pastortraci, and @JonahPesner expose the corruption of ministers like @Franklin_Graham and @robertjeffress, who use their moral authority to bless the unholy and consecrate the unconscionable.

And the last thing @realDonaldTrump wanted today was news headlines trumpeting this abominable state of affairs. So they refused us entry to the street.

But, like all petty tyrants, this anti-democratic abuse only serves to highlight the reasons we gathered this morning.

Presidents should not be afraid to hear what the people have to say. They should not need to erect barriers around their palace to ensure clergy won’t do something dramatic to remind the public of their misdeeds.

Those fences are not a show of strength, but a sign of weakness.

And while they may have halted out civil disobedience today, we’ll be back again and again until the moral stain occupying the White House is removed from power.