Protests often arise as people feel angry and unheard. Protests can be good, but they can be bad, too. The real test of a protest is in whether it is instructive or destructive.

Instructive protest points to and opens ways for change that brings everyone into the conversation. Destructive protest is merely a gathering of grievances. It becomes a ritual of resistance without any vision of an alternative that works for all participants in the conflict. This often leads to ever increasing tension that becomes violent.

A good protest is a practice of hope that is both instructive and constructive that presents alternatives that bring wellbeing for the entire community, not just a particular group within the whole.

This is why Christian Nationalism will always fail at being Christian. When a protest offers alternatives that fail at meeting the wellbeing of others and try to force religious conformity upon everyone, they inevitably turn to living by the sword instead of the model of Christ.