Rittenhouse’s Legal Fund Features Donors Invoking Biblical Self-Defense
Kyle Rittenhouse. Photo from Tik Tok/social media.
Teen gunman Kyle Rittenhouse sits in an Illinois jail, awaiting a trial date, after shooting three people with an assault rifle at protests on Aug. 25 in Kenosha, Wis. in what his lawyers argue was self-defense.
Meanwhile, people around the world have rallied together and donated to the Christian crowdfunding site, GiveSendGo, for his legal fund, despite scant evidence that Rittenhouse himself is religious.
“The boy was defending himself,” said Kachina Wallace, a Baptist GiveSendGo donor from Huntsville, Ark.
Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old Antioch, Ill. resident and firearms enthusiast, drove 21 miles to a protest in Kenosha, Wis. in an attempt to provide “protection” for police at a Black Lives Matter protest after the police shooting of 29-year-old Jacob Blake. Blake, who is Black, was shot multiple times on Aug. 23 in Kenosha by officer Rusten Sheskey. Soon after the shooting, thousands of protestors hit the streets in Kenosha to protest police violence.
Video shows Rittenhouse stood in front of a gas station when protesters came walking his way. Witnesses say and videos show that Rittenhouse first shot one protestor, Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, who cornered Rittenhouse near a used car dealership and tried to grab his gun. Rittenhouse was then chased and hit by other protestors before he fell to the ground. As protestors tried to hit and disarm Rittenhouse while he was on the ground, he used his military-style semi-automatic rifle to shoot two protesters, killing one and injuring another.
Rittenhouse has been arrested and charged with first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide, possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18 and two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment. His extradition hearing will take place on Sept. 25 in Waukegan, Ill. Some observers such as Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn predict Rittenhouse will be acquitted.
People across the globe have come together to try to “avenge” Rittenhouse and raise money for his legal fund on the free Christian crowdfunding site, GiveSendGo. As of Sept. 24, the fund has reached beyond its goal of $500,000, hitting $514,477.
“If you value someone else’s life over yours, by all means, lay down your arms,” Ashley Yodice, a donor based in Florida, said. “I watched multiple videos and I think without a doubt if he had laid down his weapon, he wouldn’t have gone home.”
The common argument from donors, many of them Christian, is that this was a necessary act of self-defense.
“Let’s study the 10 commandments [in the Bible] if people are unsure as to what is right or wrong,” Wallace continued to say. “As a country, I believe we have moved away from Christian principles. We need people to treat each other with respect.”
Though this legal fund was mediated by a Christian crowdfunding site, both Rittenhouse and many of the donors have not claimed to be religious.
Paul Yonet, another donor based in the Santa Monica area, said he was not religious, and to him, this isn’t a religious issue. He said watching riots in his city has been an out-of-body experience.
“We all feel like we’re being attacked by violent crowds. Anyone who would dare get in their way would be violently assaulted,” Yonet said. “If there had been more people acting the way [Rittenhouse] did, there would have been a lot less businesses destroyed in every city where the same things happen. He took it upon himself to do what the vast majority of citizens would be unwilling and afraid to do.”
Yonet considers himself to be independent and apolitical, but he believes that this wasn’t just a political or religious issue.
Others, though, don’t feel the same.
“I think there is a good biblical case for self-defense,” said Joni Schmidt, a Baptist woman from the San Antonio area. “As far as I’m concerned, Kyle might be another Joseph. Joseph was unjustly accused of several things and he ended up in prison and he glorified God. He didn’t go about arguing about it, he just thought I’m here and I will make the best of it. From the tweet he sent out after his imprisonment, he has good spirits.”
Though this is not an inherently religious issue, GiveSendGo promoted the law fund for the Rittenhouse family, despite the fact that no churches in the Antioch area reached by Religion Unplugged had any connection to the family.
“From my perspective, what Kyle did was wrong,” said one Antioch pastor who wanted to remain anonymous to prevent divisions in his church. “He should be held accountable according to the earthly law. However, if he finds repentance in Christ, God will forgive him.”
There is no evidence that Rittenhouse is or is not religious, but no pastors or staff at the churches in the area that Religion Unplugged called had any comment to say on the issue on the record. Most said that they didn’t even know who he was.
“If Kyle is a Christian, he was called to not do harm,” said the same Antioch pastor. “If he is also a Christian and he repents, there is also forgiveness.”
Mattie Townson is an intern for Religion Unplugged and a journalism student at The King's College. She is the Campus Editor for her school newspaper, The Empire State Tribune.