(RNS) — Near the end of the Rev. David Black’s time on the stand in a federal courtroom in Chicago this month, the judge asked the Presbyterian Church (USA) minister how his faith was holding up.
Black was there to testify in an ongoing lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration regarding the use of force by federal immigration agents against protesters. That includes Black himself: he was shot in the head and body with pepper balls as he was praying outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Broadview, Illinois, in September, according to a video captured that day.
According to Chicago journalist Dave Byrnes, Black responded to the judge by saying his experience in Broadview had only deepened his faith, adding, “This is the consequence of preaching the gospel to a government that is not unlike the Empire of Rome.”
It was the kind of radical spiritual defiance Black has come to be known for since he was thrust into the national spotlight for his activism outside the Broadview facility, where critics allege immigrants inside are being mistreated and where a growing number of fellow faith leaders have repeatedly protested the actions of ICE and Department of Homeland Security agents. Images of Black, who has been lauded by politicians and fellow activists, being shot with pepper balls and peppe …