A Detroit pastor who delivered a prayer at President Donald Trump’s inauguration says Christians in Muslim-majority Dearborn, Michigan, have privately told him they are afraid to publicly express their faith, while accusing local officials of giving Muslim residents preferential treatment under a “two-tiered justice system.”
“Right now, the city officials in Dearborn specifically, they are giving Muslims preferential treatment,” Lorenzo Sewell, senior pastor of 180 Church in Detroit, told Fox News Digital in an interview Monday.
“Now, how do I know that?” Sewell asked. “This is how I know that. Being a Black man in the city of Detroit, we go to Dearborn. We know that the police know how to enact justice in Dearborn. They know how to pull you over. They know that if they catch you shoplifting, we’ve had Black women that tried to elude the police and lost their lives in the city of Dearborn.”
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“So, as a Black man that has grown up around Arabs my entire life, I know that the Dearborn police can enact justice,” he continued. “So, when someone is being assaulted and nothing happens, when someone’s being assaulted and the police choose to look the other way, you can see clearly a two-tiered justice system.”
“So, the city council, instead of them renouncing Sharia law, they are actually upholding Sharia law,” Sewell added.
Sewell recently went viral following remarks he gave at a Dearborn town hall where he said, “America, we have lost this city. This is a city that is no longer up under American laws; we are up under Sharia law. We will not have it anymore.”
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CBS News reported last Wednesday that Dearborn police said they made 22 arrests following the “Christian Crusader March,” led by conservative activist Jake Lang. Sewell attended the march, which took place near a regularly scheduled Dearborn City Council meeting where he later delivered his viral remarks.
In a statement, Dearborn Police Chief Issa Shahin said, “Our officers met a challenging and rapidly evolving situation with the professionalism this community expects, keeping everyone safe, protecting the constitutional rights of those who came to be heard, and allowing the City Council to complete its business. I could not be prouder of them.”
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Sewell told Fox News Digital he is concerned about the growing presence of what he called Sharia law practices in the community.
“One of the examples that I see of Sharia law happening right here in the metro Detroit … in the city of Hamtramck, you are allowed right now to sacrifice animals, literally,” Sewell said. “Number two, halal meat. If you go to a public school, you are literally eating meat that’s sacrificed to idols, because, according to Sharia law, that’s what — that’s a lawful meat.”
“And I believe the most concerning to me is the call to prayer,” he added. “There is no other place in the world that you can go and tell that country, although you are a majority Christian country, you can’t go anywhere else in the nation and tell that country they have to change the way they express their religious beliefs.”
In January 2023, the Hamtramck City Council voted to allow animal sacrifice, and the website for Dearborn Public Schools says, “Dearborn Public Schools ensures all meats served in our schools are certified Halal.”
The certificate for the halal meat, partially in Arabic, reads in part, “We certify that the food processing facility of Saad Wholesale, Inc. in Detroit, MI, USA has been inspected and approved by our Islamic organization for processing, packing, and labeling of Halal Meat & Poultry Products by applying our procedures according to the Islamic Rites.”
“I see the city council upholding Sharia law through things like the call to prayer, through things like halal meat, through having more Arab writing than they do actually English, by having the chief of police talk more about protecting the rules of Islam and Islamic leaders instead of protecting the rights of all Americans,” Sewell continued.
“So you can see clearly when someone speaks freely, they can be attacked, and it’d be justified,” he added. “I can give you a clear example. My wife had her life threatened. We had the guy’s number, we had his address, we had everything, and the lieutenant did absolutely nothing. So, that’s how you can see a two-tier justice system.”
He also claimed that Christians in the area feel afraid to express their faith.
“Since I went viral, I’ve had Dearborn Christians come out from the north, south, east, and west, and they’re afraid,” Sewell said. “I want you to think about this for a moment, America. Think about being in a Christian nation, being afraid to talk about Christ. I want you to just think about that for a moment.”
“I’m having people say, ‘I’m with you, but I’m afraid to say it,'” he continued. “‘I’m with you, but I’m afraid to be by you.’ ‘I’m with you —’ This is how we know we are in a two-tiered system because, in a Christian nation, we’re afraid to be Christians.”
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Dearborn city council president Mike Sareini told Fox News Digital that the pastor’s claims are false.
“The City of Dearborn is an American city governed by the U.S. Constitution, the laws of the State of Michigan, and the City of Dearborn Charter,” Sareini said. “Those laws apply equally to every resident, regardless of religion or background. Everyone is treated the same.”
“There is no evidence of preferential treatment for any religious group. These accusations are unfounded, and I challenge anyone to present evidence otherwise,” Sareini continued.
“Dearborn is home to approximately 30 churches and 10 mosques,” he added. “Most recently, pastors from throughout Dearborn spoke at a press conference and publicly confirmed that people of different faiths live together peacefully in Dearborn, without the conflict being alleged.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Dearborn mayor Abdullah Hammoud and the Dearborn Police Department for comment but did not immediately receive a response.