I’m an Episcopal priest, and I’m trying to imagine how I’d respond to this. The only time I’ve ever had to ask someone to leave was when a, say, mentally unbalanced man came into the church and screamed profanity at me in the middle of the service and told me that I needed the permission of the Korean consulate to preach (this was a white guy in a Navy sailor’s cap, in Hawai’i where I live—not sure what his deal with Korea was). He did this twice over a couple years and I have a person who works with unhoused veterans in my parish who’s told me that she’d been instructed not to interact with the guy because he was deemed too dangerous. So, asking him to leave was a safety issue. But no one tackled him.
I’d like to think that I’d let this guy have his say. If he’s not cussing anyone out or getting violent, I’d probably let him talk and then invite him to hang out and talk some after the service. I sure as shit wouldn’t demand him to “respect my authoritah” or see him tackled to the ground. That is something I can’t wrap my head around.
