The Point of Medicine
A FORUM OF CHRISTIAN MEDICAL & DENTAL ASSOCIATIONS®
Chaos in Minnesota
February 10, 2026
By Brick Lantz, MD
Immigration is a complex issue. God established boundaries among nations for our own well-being. Governments have a responsibility to protect those boundaries. Both extreme positions of no boundaries or borders versus completely closed boundaries or borders leads to social disorder. Advocating for a balance is important.
The unfolding chaos in Minnesota is heartbreaking. This seems like 2020 again. The tragic deaths of two Americans have polarized our nation. We should not be alarmed at the divisiveness in our culture, though, as it will continue until Christ returns. Then how should we respond now to violence and what appears as unjust treatment of human beings? What is our responsibility as Christian healthcare professionals to our patients, to our community, to those who are vulnerable? What is our responsibility to model respect for laws and those called to enforce laws?
Immigration is a complex issue. God established boundaries among nations for our own well-being. Governments have a responsibility to protect those boundaries. Both extreme positions of no boundaries or borders versus completely closed boundaries or borders leads to social disorder. Advocating for a balance is important.
Critical theory, which is the sociological view of inequality based on dividing people groups into oppressed and opressors, is a prominent worldview today. There are only good guys and bad guys. Most seem to pick a side and blame the “oppressors” for oppressing the other side. Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was asked in the 1970s why we cannot simply get rid of the bad people and make the world a better place. His response was profound, “The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, not between political parties either—but through every human heart—and through all human hearts.”[i]
I have prejudices, and so do you. I desire by the grace of God to change and eliminate my prejudices. These prejudices can interfere with my ability to practice healthcare compassionately. Mistakes are made by the federal government and government officials. Mistakes are made by protestors. Fortunately, we live in a country that uses due process to seek justice. We can have opinions on how that justice should happen, but we need to wait and abide by this due process.
As Christian healthcare professionals, we must refrain from name calling and derogatory remarks. In God’s eyes, we are guilty as well and deserving of punishment. We must reflect to the world that there is only One who is perfect in justice and at the same time perfect in forgiveness.
We need to care for the medical needs of legal immigrants, illegal immigrants, ICE agents, protestors, government employees and politicians, and we cannot let our prejudices interfere with that care. We need to pray for peace and reconciliation. God is the only one who can bring perfect peace and reconciliation. There is power in prayer.
Please pray the protestors will operate legally and respectfully. Pray that lawlessness will cease. Pray those who enforce laws will do so with respect and dignity. Pray for wisdom for our government to plan wisely on the issue of illegal immigration. There is so much more we can pray about, but let’s set the model in our profession for compassion and the desire to listen, to do no harm and to express forgiveness.
We are frequently asked at CMDA why we do not speak up on social issues. We do speak up when the issue directly or indirectly impacts healthcare. We refrain from “picking sides” when all the evidence is not apparent, as these issues are complex. We do speak up when there is flagrant disrespect for the Word of God, when laws enable the killing or disfiguring of the imago dei. We desire justice and mercy, knowing that is difficult at times. We are willing to acknowledge the problems sin brings into the world and pray we can speak with wisdom and model Christ in compassion and forgiveness. This is not a desire to avoid the issues but to bring Christ into a broken world.
I encourage you to review CMDA’s Firearm Associated Violence Public Policy Task Force Statement. I also encourage you to review this recent blog post from Dr. John Petty entitled “Christian Healthcare in a Violent World.”
[i] Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr. 2018. The Gulag Archipelago. London, England: Vintage Classics.
What's The Point?
- What are the key points in a dialogue with patients, colleagues and fellow believers to decrease rhetoric and increase respect and peace?
- What are the key principles you, your colleagues and your staff should employ to ensure compassionate care to vulnerable people?
- Without name calling, what is your opinion of how the government can improve law enforcement so violence is minimized?
- We are allowed to protest in the U.S. What characterizes a protest that goes beyond our constitutional rights? As peacemakers, how should we advocate for what appears unjust?
We encourage you to provide your thoughts and comments in the discussion forum below. All comments are moderated and not all comments will be posted. Please see our commenting guidelines.
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DISCUSSION FORUM
Join us for a vibrant conversation! This is a place to engage with others who see medicine not just as a profession, but as a calling — one that honors God, wrestles with real questions, and seeks truth with humility and purpose.
Dr. Lantz, thank you for your thoughtful editorial on the unfolding crisis in Minnesota. As I reflect on your words and our recent CMDA Violence Response Committee discussion, I am reminded of the immense responsibility we bear as Christian healthcare professionals to seek justice while steadfastly pursuing truth, especially in such a volatile political climate.
The pain and anger surrounding these events are palpable—not only for those directly affected but also for those of us called to lead and respond. We must acknowledge the deep lament and righteous anger that arise when innocent lives are lost and when fear pervades our communities, particularly among the vulnerable. We also call out false narratives and clearly misleading responses from public officials responsible for reporting to the media and the American public in the aftermath of the deaths of two protesters. Yet, as you so aptly quoted Solzhenitsyn, the line between good and evil runs through every human heart. This truth calls us to humility and self-examination, resisting the urge to reduce complex crises to simplistic narratives or partisan sides.
Our commitment must be to due process and the pursuit of justice for all—immigrants, ICE agents, healthcare workers, and community members alike. We cannot allow our prejudices or the pressures of political polarization to cloud our compassion or our dedication to truth. As an organization, we must model Christ’s example: caring for the vulnerable, speaking with wisdom, and advocating for peace and reconciliation. Let us continue to pray fervently, act justly, and engage in dialogue that honors both justice and truth, trusting that God alone brings perfect peace.
Thank you for opening this important conversation and I invite CMDA members and ministry partners to contribute to this dialogue during such times of national debate re: immigration law, federal power, civil liberties, and respect for human dignity and the Imago Dei.
I appreciate Dr Lantz being willing to raise the issues about recent events in Minnesota. What is it like from a CMDA member viewpoint?
A prayer request from our church this AM (2/9) reads: “Multiple Calvary connected immigrant families continue to live in fear, and the parents are staying home from work. Calvary volunteers are driving kids to school in morning and home from ASK (Calvary’s after school program) in evening. Please pray and advocate for a peaceful and humane resolution to the current crisis and reach out in love to neighbors in need.”
My congregation is also offering food gift cards for individual congregants to share with those in need they know and have contact with and who are afraid to leave their homes.
The clinic I work in as a volunteer, and many health systems in the Twin Cities are reporting much lower numbers of appointments kept due to persons who are afraid. My clinic has transitioned to virtual visits for all but first visits and is working to devise ways to get meds to people who won’t come to clinic, as meds are provided for free.
Violence: It’s not only ‘2020 all over again’ but 2025 as well, and I support CMDA’s recent statement against gun violence. MN has suffered in recent years not only the severe fallout from George Floyd’s killing by police with the rioting that followed, but also in June 2025 from the murder of two Minnesotans, House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) and her husband, Mark, who were fatally shot in their home. Sen. John Hoffman (DFL-Champlin) and his wife, Yvette, were also shot in their home in a related attack the same day.
I am troubled by these shootings as well as the gun violence against protesters by ICE and their lack of accountability. The tactics of the resistance are certainly aggravating, but lethal force is not justified against people throwing snowballs or shooting off fireworks.
There has also been violence when people are taken from their residences, a number of whom have been returned hours or days later without charges or explanation, as well as lack of proper clothing in subzero temps. Some of those who have been taken are US citizens and others have cases in progress in the legal system yet are still forcibly removed.
The government certainly has the legal right to detain and deport persons in the US without documentation of legality, but I’m troubled by the lack of dignity that is being shown some of the least of us.
I agree with Dr. Lantz that we won’t achieve peace on earth by government actions or collectively working together, but by the change in our hearts by the Lordship of Jesus. As Christian clinicians, we know, all disease and suffering will one day be relegated to history – but that does not stop us from pursuing the best medicine we can as a demonstration and a foretaste of that ultimate healing.
Please pray for your colleagues who are working in healthcare in this difficult environment, as they take action to bring the love and healing of Christ to our community.
Thank you, Brick, for this thoughtful statement. It is a most welcome and necessary corrective to the vitriol that has taken over the spotlight from the deeper issues. All sides of these events strain at the gnats of politics, policy, rights, and agenda while neglecting the weightier matters of the law, namely, the great and first commandment and the second like unto it. It was, we recall, a despised Samaritan who was the neighbor and who did the good, while the established religious, possessed of a faux-righteousness, passed by on the other side, confident in their ‘position.’
These are times to lay down righteous indignation, of which all sides of these issues seem to possess a double share. The times call for an equal measure of the gentleness of dove to accompany the wisdom of serpent. We need now to hear the wisdom, we now need to speak the gentleness – to victim and second victim, that is, to him who is shot, and to him who shoots.
In the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, the liturgy flows seamlessly from prayer for our national leaders….”Grant that our leaders may impartially administer justice, uphold integrity and truth, restrain wickedness and vice, and protect true religion and virtue” to prayer for “all who in this transitory life are in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or any other adversity.”
Solzhenitsyn was onto something. We would do well to begin and end our days reflecting, with his words in our ears, and these prayers humbly upon our lips.
Thank you, Brick, for writing this blog on the crisis going on in Minnesota currently. There are numerous overlapping complex issues here, and being able to have civil dialogue is what Jesus would want us to do.
As you said, a lot of us have our own biases, which can be based on where we live, on a political party we belong to, and numerous other factors. If we start to process these issues through the lens of being a follower of Jesus, and looking for a biblical perspective, much of the divisiveness can be set aside so that we can be reconciled, even if we disagree on some things. As Dr. Chupp commented, “we cannot allow our prejudice or the pressures of political polarization to cloud our compassion or our dedication to truth.” It is in that spirit that I make my comments. I urge my brothers and sisters at CMDA to first grab the lens of compassion and dedication to truth, before grabbing the lens of our specific viewpoint on these issues!
Like Dr. Bergeson, I live in Minnesota. Life has changed in Minnesota! We are living in a state of hypervigilance, not knowing when we wake up each day what might’ve occurred, and how will that impact myself, my work as a healthcare professional, my neighbors that I live by (and my neighbors from a biblical standpoint – which encompasses everyone). I echo what Steve said. The underlying stress, chaos, fear, uncertainly, and for many people trauma, may affect us Minnesotans for months if not years.
One of your statements, Brick was “how should we respond now to violence and what appears as unjust treatment of human beings?” Well, I would say that it’s not just an appearance of unjust treatment, as there are hundreds of documented examples of unjust treatment that has happened in Minnesota. Tear gas and pepper spray in the faces of people, grabbing them, and throwing them down into the snow, pulling them out of houses and cars, carrying them face down with four people, grabbing each arm and leg and throwing them into a vehicle, is not how we are called to treat anyone.
Another of your statements was that “fortunately we live in a country that uses due process to seek justice”. Well, that is what is supposed to happen, but again there are numerous examples of that not happening in Minnesota. People are not given an opportunity to show their citizenship papers, their paperwork showing that they legally have asylum or refugee status, etc. before they have been taken away, sometimes locally and sometimes flown to Texas within hours. Often times they have not been given access to lawyers, had an opportunity to contact family, and there are many documented instances of lack of timely medical care, or even food. This is not all the time, but it is happening too frequently to ignore. And sadly, it happens more often to my black and brown and non-white brothers and sisters.
We do need to pray for peace and reconciliation, and we need to act as God calls us to. As Martin Luther King Jr. called many to nonviolent protesting, we are all called to prayer, and others to act by serving their neighbors and providing assistance in a tangible manner with food, clothing, rides, money to cover rent, emotional support, etc. Yes some protesters have been violent, and that is not right! But I believe we are called to focus on the vulnerable. God calls us to love our neighbors – and our enemies.
I appreciate Dr. Roberts comment on the greatest Commandments, and how scripture via the Samaritan story defines loving our neighbor as showing mercy. Numerous scripture passages support showing ‘love to foreigners’. And of course there are numerous passages on justice and reconciliation. Leviticus 19:15 “ do not twist justice in legal matters by favoring the poor or being partial to the rich and powerful. Always judge people fairly.”
If we start with compassion, seeking truth, in love, and with humility, there will be less divisiveness and conflict, more unity in the body of Christ, and people will see the heart of Jesus in us. If we stay in an echo chamber, not willing to listen to viewpoints different from ours, not looking at data and for truth, Lord have mercy. Please join me in praying for Minnesota, and all of the people who have suffered and are suffering.