Christians Are Not the Enemy
In Nashville this week, six pro-life activists were convicted in federal court of conspiracy to violate the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act when they peacefully prayed and sang at the entrance to an abortion clinic in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, in March 2021. Those convicted now face a possible prison sentence of 10 and 1/2 years and up to $250,000 in fines.
The Biden administration's Justice Department, which is remarkably blase about prosecuting those responsible for the 2020 riots or investigating dozens of violent attacks against pro-life crisis pregnancy centers, seems to view some Christians -- specifically as a subset of conservative Americans generally -- as a threat to the peace and security of the United States.
This time last year, FBI whistleblower Kyle Seraphin leaked an intelligence memorandum that originated within the Richmond, Virginia Field Office of the FBI. The memorandum purported to address concerns about "extremism" within segments of the Roman Catholic Church in America. Its title is a mouthful and reveals much: "Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities."
Those "opportunities" to "mitigate" violent extremism included recruiting spies or having federal agents "infiltrate" certain churches to provide intelligence about potential domestic terrorism. According to the memo, "Radical Traditionalist" (or "Rad-Trad") Catholics -- defined as those who attend the Latin Mass, oppose abortion, express dissatisfaction with the papacy of Pope Francis and dislike the modernizing reforms produced by the Second Vatican Council -- are secretly "white supremacists" who are plotting violence against Jews and members of other faiths, Blacks and other minorities, and gay people.
The memo appeared to rely on definitions and other information about "hate groups" provided by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a leftist organization notorious for its sloppy and baseless accusations of racism and smears against conservative groups and individuals.
Embarrassed, the FBI subsequently disavowed the document as not meeting their "exacting standards," and removed it from their systems. But one cannot help but wonder what the FBI would have done had the memorandum not been made public.
It isn't just the federal government.
A family in Montana lost custody of their 14-year-old daughter last fall after being told that gender transition was the appropriate treatment for the child's mental and emotional disorders. The family objected, telling government officials and health care workers that "transitioning" their daughter to a boy violated their "values, morals and our religious beliefs." Their daughter was taken from them and placed in the custody of Child and Family Services.
Christian baker Jack Phillips continues to be harassed in the state of Colorado. Phillips won a Supreme Court case in 2018 after he refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, arguing that it violated his religious beliefs. He is being sued again -- this time because he has refused (also on religious grounds) to make a cake celebrating an individual's gender transition.
The media loves to inflame this narrative as well. After Donald Trump won the recent Iowa caucus by a record-breaking margin, MSNBC co-host Joy Reid argued that the result was explicable because the state is "overrepresented by white Christians" who want people of color to "bow down" to them.
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Copyright 2024 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
