Minnesota protesters’ rare disruption of church services recalls the Quakers during the colonial era before the American Revolution

American religious history is rife with protest movements and civil disobedience. Yet it is rare for political protests to happen inside a house of worship.

That is part of what makes the new case against anti-ICE protesters in St. Paul, Minnesota, unusual. The group interrupted a service last Sunday at Cities Church, a Southern Baptist congregation, where one of its pastors works for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Three of the protesters were arrested on federal charges Thursday.