In January 2026, social media users shared a quote alleging U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said, "Jesus Christ would never have stormed a church in protest of the people who were running it." Users reposted the remark in an apparent screenshot of a Fox News chyron or simply as text.
The Bondi quote rumor circulated in the days after a group of protesters disrupted a Sunday service at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. News media outlets subsequently reported the activists' reason for the protest as demonstrating against a local official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement who serves as
For example, on Jan. 20, a Facebook user posted (archived) an alleged Fox News TV screenshot displaying a chyron reading, "Bondi: 'Jesus Christ would never have stormed a church in protest of the people who were running it.'" Many other social media users shared the same purported screenshot or the quote as text, with some
(Bren Tinman/Facebook)
In short, Bondi never said those words. Both the Fox News screenshot and quote were fake. The rumor originated as satire.
James Schlarmann, a comedian whose Facebook bio says he is a political
(James Schlarmann/Facebook)
We asked Schlarmann via Messenger if he wished to say more about the church incident or if he wanted his satire to stand on its own. He responded, "You can add that I remember just enough from my former Christian upbringing to know that the Christians I saw were the ones protesting."
What Bondi said about church incident
On Jan. 18, the day protesters disrupted the St. Paul church service, Bondi posted (archived) on X, in part, "I just spoke to the Pastor in Minnesota whose church was targeted. Attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians are being met with the full force of federal law."
Two days later, Fox News reported, as part of an interview with Bondi, that she said of the church incident, "That should not happen to any Christian, to any religion, to a synagogue, to a mosque, to any place of worship in our country."
On Jan. 22, Bondi announced (archived) the arrest of one of the protesters and added, "Listen loud and clear: WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP."
Bondi subsequently announced two additional arrests in connection with the incident.
Jesus in the temple
Some of the aforementioned posts drew comparisons between the fake Bondi quote and Bible verses describing Jesus driving people selling goods out of a temple. The story is depicted in Matthew 21:12-15, Mark 11:15-18, Luke 19:45-46 and John 2:13-17.
For example, John 2:13-17 in the Bible's New International Version reads as follows:
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father's house into a market!" His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me."
For further reading, we previously reported about whether Bondi fired a Department of Justice employee after she found a copy of the U.S. Constitution on the employee's desk.