Lorenzo Sewell, the pastor of 180 Church in Dearborn, Michigan, told a City Council meeting that “we have lost this city” to Sharia law, accusing local officials of favoring Muslim residents over American law.
“This is a city that is no longer up under American laws; we are up under Sharia law. We will not have it anymore,” Sewell said last week, according to Fox News. “Enough is enough.”
Sewell’s remarks came amid a series of protests in Dearborn against Sharia law’s alleged influence over the city. Sewell said Muslim residents make up a small share of the nation’s population and should not set its laws. “You are only 1% of this nation. We are not a nation of Muslims,” he was quoted as saying.
The pastor argues Dearborn officials give Muslim residents favorable treatment in the name of religious freedom.
Sewell and other critics of the city point to a case in which Muslim counterprotesters allegedly faced light consequences for assaulting Jake Lang, a local political activist. “You are not up under American law. You are up under Sharia law. That is the reason why you have made no arrests,” Sewell said, referring to the incident.
Lang calls himself a defender of American culture rooted in his Christian faith. In one video posted to X, he performs baptisms while wearing military-style clothing and a bulletproof chest plate, an outfit he wears often in his online content.
Lang has also posted online about arming himself against Muslim migrants in Spain, and he wrote that he would confront migrants at the U.S. southern border in large numbers if Democrats win the 2028 election.
Lang’s opposition became a physical confrontation earlier this month when he protested at Dearborn’s Arbaeen March, a Shiite Muslim religious commemoration. In one video, he was punched from behind while holding a sign that read “deport 100 million, save America.”
Muslim counterprotesters chased Lang to his car, and at least one person tried to hit him with a rock, according to video Lang posted online. Dearborn police arrested one person in the altercation and asked for help identifying others involved.
“One individual was arrested by Dearborn Police during the altercation and is currently held without bond as the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office determines charges,” police said in a press release.
Lang and Sewell called the police response insufficient. Ahead of last week’s meeting, they and other demonstrators announced plans to protest the gathering and press the city to address Muslim influence and Sharia law more seriously.
City officials pushed back on claims that Muslims are treated differently than other Dearborn residents.
A majority of Dearborn residents reported Middle Eastern or North African ancestry in the 2020 U.S. census, making it the first American city with a majority-Arab population, at about 54.5% of residents.
The dispute follows an earlier clash between Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud and another Dearborn pastor. Ted Barham, a preacher with the Evangelical Plymouth Brethren denomination, drew national attention after Hammoud denounced him at a September 2025 City Council meeting.
Hammoud called Barham “a bigot,” “a racist” and “an Islamophobe” after Barham opposed naming two street signs for Osama Siblani, an Arab American leader who has reportedly praised former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
“I want you to know, as mayor, you are not welcome here,” Hammoud told Barham at the meeting. “And the day you move out of the city will be the day that I launch a parade celebrating the fact that you moved out of the city, because you are not somebody who believes in coexistence.”
