Every so often, one comes across a news story that’s beyond odd.
Ever since the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, law enforcement has been trying to get to the bottom as to who and what were the planners for all this. We all know that. But this time around, the FBI infiltrated something new — a Bible study in Alexandria.
Or, as many media are saying, a “Bible study.”
Look at this part of a CNN piece. The key is to try to find some information on a specific religious institution or movement linked to this activity:
The FBI has infiltrated a "Bible study" group in Virginia that after the January 6 riot had members discussing surveilling the US Capitol and their wish for secession from the US, and investigators closely followed one member's plans to build and test Molotov cocktails, according to recently unsealed court records.
The newly disclosed criminal case against Virginia man Fi Duong -- who also goes by "Monkey King" and "Jim," according to the court record -- arose after Duong interacted with undercover law enforcement officers several times on January 6 and into recent months, when the FBI ultimately gained access to his group in Virginia then accompanied him to an old jail as Duong allegedly pursued bomb-building.
Looks like an FBI agent befriended Duong and began hanging out with him and his friends.
Duong told the FBI agent that his group tried to be "cloak and dagger" and wanted to "build resistances," according to court records. The agent then attended what the group members called a "Bible study" meeting at an Alexandria, Virginia, house in February, where the group members discussed the Bible and secession, weaponry and combat training, and using methods to make their communications private, according to court records.
One person in the group commented at the meeting about creating "a semi-autonomous region" for Virginia. "I like the Constitution; I don't like the Democratic sh*t this region keeps voting for," the person said, according to the FBI.
I’m curious why the scare quotes are put around this Bible study group when it’s obvious there really was discussion about the Bible at this gathering. I listened to CNN’s video alongside the article and the reporter called the gathering “a so-called Bible study meeting.” Oh, and is there a church linked to this? A parachurch group or some other organization?
Curious, but how did she know it was “so-called?” We know there was some scriptural content to this meeting. For CNN to assume this was a fake meeting shows quite the disdain for religion, even though connected to politics it may have been.
The article also talked about additional meetings. Were those too Bible studies or something else?
More details, please. Once again, we see evidence of a trend that has been discussed here at GetReligion over and over in recent years: journalists seem to struggle when covering totally independent religious congregations and groups. It’s one thing when an independent, isolated group holds a meeting of this kind. It would be a bigger story if it was a circle of men linked to a major evangelical denomination or a parachurch group, perhaps something like Promise Keepers.
Meanwhile, the thought of the FBI creeping into your neighbor’s study of the Gospel of St. Mark is just odd to most Christians, and there’s some thought that the FBI tried to entrap these Bible study members into planning violence.
Must say, in the West, it’s been awhile that the Bible was considered subversive enough to be grounds for arrest. This goes on in China all the time, but … northern Virginia?
In case you’re wondering if there is precedent, Muslims have been enduring similar infiltration for two decades.
The FBI has infiltrated Islamic groups plenty of times and a recent article in The Hill tells how the Supreme Court recently agreed to hear a case regarding some California mosques that were infiltrated by an FBI informant.
It was commonly assumed that a well-known Virginia mosque (one I once lived just a few miles away from) called Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, was infiltrated by the FBI all the time. (Of course it didn’t help that two of the Sept. 11 hijackers — Hani Hanjour and Nawaf Alhazmi – worshipped there months before the attack).
Plus, the New York Police Department infiltrated, mapped or surveyed 250 mosques and 31 Muslim student organizations, according to this study.
Still, reporters didn’t use pejorative terms such as “so-called Muslim worshippers” to describe what went on there.
CNN might disagree with what went on at this “so-called Bible study,” but documents did say that “the Bible and secession” were discussed.
This is not to say the FBI can’t investigate groups using religion as a cover for criminal behavior. Back in the 1940s, J. Edgar Hoover, then head of the FBI, considered mainline Protestant clergy as Communist sympathizers and therefore subversive. But reality is more complex. There may be criminal behavior, but there’s true religious practice happening too.
According to a 2017 book “The FBI and Religion: Faith and Security Before and After 9/11,” the FBI has infiltrated several religious groups — but 9/11 was a game changer. Its failure to prevent 9/11 incentivized the Bureau to have enough agents out there reporting on Muslims, so that no similar attack will happen again. The Atlantic did an interesting review of the book here.
Northern Virginia is combed with churches and Bible study groups, some of which I used to attend during the 12 years I lived there. I never thought I’d see the day when the FBI would consider such mundane gatherings worthy of surveillance. But when they do, reporters should try to get some context to it all. Was the gathering linked to any particular church? What biblical content was studied there?
Chances are they’ll find a weird mix of God and guns. And it’s a much better story if the reporter makes it clear there was some God mentions at the event, rather than assuming that the faith was fake.
FIRST IMAGE: Bible study by Godsgirl_madi from Pixabay.