Attacks against churches is rising at alarming rates, said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.
“It looked like something out of a 2015 news report — a picture from ISIS, maybe, torching its way through Mosul,” he said. “But the charred pews and collapsed roof were not the work of Islamic terrorists, but America’s own. Over the weekend, the rioters, the same ones who wanted us to believe their cause is justice, came for our churches — using gasoline, lighters, gallons of paint and vans to drive their message of destruction and chaos through the heart of America’s faithful.”
Even historically black congregations were targets, as Calvary Baptist in San Diego watched its building for children’s ministry burn to the ground after a “suspicious” blaze started in the attic. In New York City, the mobs made bonfires out of two Virgin Mary statues, with words like “IDOL” scrawled in black paint on others. Even a Jesus sculpture was decapitated.
“You saw this with the French Revolution,” author Eric Metaxas said. “There was [an abhorrence] at the bottom of it of God, of any kind of authority. And these people are drunk with the idea that they can somehow be an authority themselves, they can seize power … If you really want to cut to the chase, you forget about [Confederate] generals and things. You go right for God, you go right for the Virgin Mary, my goodness, you go for churches.”
In a video that went viral on Facebook, protesters can be seen screaming at a woman holding a child and two others in tow as a man is pulled aside and punched repeatedly outside Grace Baptist Church in late June.
Much of the violence is being driven by people participating in Black Lives Matter protests. BLM activist Shaun King urged demonstrators to “tear” down Jesus Christ statues and murals because he said they are “a form of white supremacy” on Twitter.
In Los Angeles, the 249-year-old San Gabriel Mission was engulfed in flames in the early hours of June 1.
CNN reported that firefighters and emergency responders fought the blaze for three hours as the ancient ceiling and roof began to cave in.
The church was preparing to mark its upcoming 250th anniversary celebration before the alleged arson an statue attacks, causing severe water and smoke damage.
Surrounding statues of St. Junipero Serra had been previously vandalized, then toppled as protests turned their attention to churches across the nation.
Hundreds of churches have been the subject of attacks since protests began in late May.
The media mostly ignore these attacks on churches because they don’t want to expose the perpetrators for who they are, Perkins said.
“Americans, especially Christians, are making a huge mistake burying their head in the sand thinking this, too, shall pass,” he said. “It will pass, all right, along with our freedoms if we don’t wake up to the threat.”
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice