If you get the Tacoma Morning News Tribune, you never read about the riot at Cal Anderson Park on Memorial Day.

The riot took place when LGBTQ protesters confronted a religious conservative Christian group who had gathered at Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill in Seattle over the Memorial Day weekend. 23 people were arrested by the police.

What’s fascinating about this riot is that each group had a different perspective about what happened and who was responsible.

Until I did some research, I suspended judgment. I made the general comment that Christians are supposed to be obedient to the authorities. If any Christians were arrested for attacking the police, then they were in violation of their Christian values.

The response was that all of those arrested were LGBTQ protesters. No Christians were arrested for attacking police or the protesters.

The riot went viral. “FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said Tuesday he had requested an investigation into allegations of ‘targeted violence’ against religious groups after the rally at Seattle City Hall in response to the mayor purportedly blaming Christian activists for igniting a weekend demonstration that turned violent.” (Fox News)

So, the Seattle mayor Bruce Harrell blamed the Christians for inciting the riot while the White House blamed the LGBTQ protesters for being anti-Christian.

Then I asked a Christian woman from Seattle what her take on the riot was. She told me that the blame fell on the pastor, Russel Johnson, who had organized the rally in the heart of the LGBTQ community — it was a direct attempt to provoke a violent response.

A third Christian back in Enumclaw stated that the blame for the riot lay with the LGBTQ protestors. The First Amendment protects the rights of non-violent free speech and freedom of religion. The protestors had allowed themselves to be provoked by the conservative Christian rally. They had been manipulated by the rally organizing pastor.

I watched a YouTube video produced by the Christian Broadcasting Network which interviewed Pastor Johnson to get his side of the story. Pastor Johnson said he had originally requested a city permit to hold a church service at the Pike Place Market. That request was rejected by the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department who instead issued him a permit to hold their religious service at Cal Anderson Park. About 50 church attenders gave free haircuts, offered free bicycles and food, and had held a peaceful religious service complete with hymn singing. The pastor stated that he had been raised by two lesbians and had converted to Christianity at age fifteen. He didn’t hate members of the LGBTQ community. He wasn’t trying to provoke a riot. In fact, his lesbian mother supported his church financially.

The pastor stated: “We were swarmed by hundreds of Antifa militants… They were throwing water-balloons filled with urine at Christians who stood in the park and were assaulted for the high crime of worshiping Jesus in a public space” (Fox News). The rally was cut short at the request of the police.

Then, I read about how the police department reacted to the riot. “The officers’ union shared frustration with city leaders for putting them ‘into a political quagmire’” (King 5 News). The mayor’s office had issued the permit without giving any warning of the potential for violence. Police in the rest of the city had to be pulled in from their regular duties to restore order. One police officer was injured.

A spokeswoman for the LGBTQ blamed the mayor for allowing the rally to take place. The mayor’s office had not been sensitive to the LGBTQ past persecution from centuries of Christian intolerance.

There seem to be several common themes in these varying narratives:

1) Each side blamed others for what happened. Most sides blamed the mayor.

2) The police were the real victims since they suffered stress and injury.

3) On the national level, White House politicians used this riot as an opportunity to push their own agenda of Christian victimhood and to deflect criticism from their own illegal actions.

4) It’s easy to take sides if all perspectives and the facts are not presented clearly and fully.

5) There likely is more information that has not been revealed which might change the whole narrative.

Truth is obtained by a careful objective study of the facts from all perspectives. Perhaps the TMNT was correct in ignoring this Seattle problem?