Have you wondered why Christians can’t even agree about who’s at fault in the ICE shooting?
If you haven’t heard, on January 7, 2026, an ICE agent, Jonathan Ross, fatally shot 37-year old Renee Good in Minneapolis during a federal immigration enforcement operation. Protestors say she posed no immediate threat; federal officials claim self-defense.
The incident has sparked nationwide protests and calls for accountability and policy review. What is perhaps more concerning is that Christians are as divided as rest of the country on their opinions on the shooting.
Two different views of the ICE shooting
I only need to scroll through my Facebook feed for a few minutes to see Christian friends dividing over the video. My Christian friends on the left watch the video and see an ICE officer they believe was looking for a reason to shoot a protestor. He could have gotten out of the way. He did get out of the way. They believe the shooting was unnecessary and clearly not in self-defense.
My Christian friends on the right watch the same video and are convinced the shooting was justified self-defense. She turned the wheels toward the officer and made contact with him. Why was she disobeying the order of a federal law enforcement officer? They believe Nicole Good got what she deserved.
They are seeing the same thing but reaching entirely different conclusions. They are Christians, so their Christian worldview cannot be the reason for this diversion of opinion. What accounts for how Christians can view the ICE video so differently? It comes down to one thing: their politics.
What explains the different views
Christians who are law and order republicans see what happened as the result of a protestor failing to obey the lawful command of a law enforcement officer. Christians who are liberal democrats see what happened as the inevitable result of the Trump administration sending federal law enforcement officers into cities after undocumented aliens.
In other words, they each are interpreting the event in terms of whatever best serves their desired political narrative. This means their political ideology is more determinative of how they see the world than their Christianity.
A Christian approach to the ICE shooting
If Christians approached the ICE video from a Biblical perspective, they might see a woman in the car who was frustrated with her government and justified in her mind that she was could ignore the instructions of an ICE agent she believed should not be there in the first place. So, she wrongly and recklessly tried to flee.
And maybe a Biblical worldview would help one see a law enforcement officer, who had been previously dragged 100 yards six months prior by a fleeing illegal immigrant, mocked just a moment before this shooting by the driver’s lover, and fearing for his life when the car bumped him and started run over him. So, reflexively he reached for his gun.
Of course, such conclusions don’t neatly benefit either political party, but Truth rarely does. GS
