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Today’s blacklisted American: Violence against churches and religious institutions skyrockets since 2018

The increase in violence against churches since 2018

The modern dark age: According to a recently published 84-page report [pdf] by the Family Research Council, vandalism, violence, and arson against churches and religious institutions has nearly tripled since 2018.

From the report:

Family Research Council identified a total of 420 documented acts of hostility that targeted 397
individual churches. These incidents occurred between January 2018 and September 2022 across 45 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. To conduct this research, we analyzed open-source documents, reports, and media outlets to assess the number of acts of hostility against churches over a five-year span.

We looked at incidents of vandalism (including the destruction of property, the defacement of property, ransacking, and theft), arson, and arson attempts. Shootings that took place in a church building and bomb threats (including false ones) made against churches were also included. Most of the instances covered in this report are vandalisms; the report identified 342 occurrences of vandalism, 58 arson attacks or attempts, 12 gun-related incidents, 11 bomb threats, and 19 other incidences (assault, threats, interruption of worship services, etc.). Twenty incidents (4.76 percent) fell into more than one category, the most common combination being vandalism and arson.

Acts of hostility against churches occurred throughout the country, in 45 states and the District of Columbia. States with higher populations tended to report a greater number of incidents. California had the most incidents, with 51. Texas had 33 incidents, New York 31, and Florida 23. The only U.S. states without any known incidents during the five-year reporting period were Delaware, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

This violent form of blacklisting was not against any particular person, but against an entire class of religious institutions and their adherents. The trend, shown in the report’s graph above, illustrate the growing intolerance in America towards beliefs that do not fit in with the modern mainstream secular culture, a culture that once celebrated free speech and the free exercise of religion. Now, that culture abhors freedom, and within it is a growing and powerful cadre of organized individuals increasingly willing to use violence to silence such intellectual and philosophic diversity.

Since the report only goes through September 2022, it does not include the many incidents that occurred against churches in the fall of 2022, incidents that further underline the growing violence of the left.

As noted at the second link above,

Part of that insensitivity [to this violence] includes President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris turning a blind eye to attacks stretching from sea to shining sea, [says Family Research Council President Tony Perkins]. “While it is good to see the Biden administration acknowledge that these attacks are a problem, they must do more,” Perkins states. “The Biden Department of Justice has so far largely ignored these growing attacks on churches and that is creating an environment of lawlessness around the country.”

“Christians must not live in fear. We must not be intimidated,” concludes Perkins. “We must continue to stand upon the truth of God and defending the freedom of all to live out their faith.”

Kamala Harris endorsing rioting against her opponents
Kamala Harris endorsing rioting against her opponents. Click for video.

Perkins is too kind. The Biden administration has done nothing because it sees these attacks as politically advantageous. The attacks are being done by the militant brownshirts of the Democratic Party, and thus Biden and Harris are glad to see them occur. They want the religious — who almost always tend to be conservative — to live in fear. And these politicians also know that they have the support of a huge segment of the modern American population. Too many Americans no longer believe in free speech. Instead, they think that censorship and oppression are always justified to impose their own ideas.

Meanwhile, the majority of Americans who still say they believe in free speech and religious freedom do nothing. Within the Republican Party is a small but significant faction that actually favors the repeated betrayal of its conservative wing, allying themselves with the Democrats to further these intolerant policies. The rest of that party does nothing, because it is like the American general public, largely willing to look the other way out of fear, self-interest, or cowardice.

And thus freedom dies.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

7 comments

  • Cotour

    “Which does not mean that religion does not serve a good, proper and significant purpose in culture and society. A culture or society that is bereft of a belief system will come to worship its own government to its extreme regret. SEE: North Korea.”

    In the future brave new world, the Christian based religions must be destroyed and supplanted by the state. That is the Globalist / Sorosian “Progressive” plan anyway.

    And here is something directly related to Kamala and her attempt at making herself relevant, no one is politically “worshiping” her? :

    https://nypost.com/2022/12/23/kamala-harris-whines-about-her-media-coverage/

    Kamala Harris whines media doesn’t focus on ‘strength of my leadership’

    “WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris complained this week about poor media coverage — during a friendly interview with a Washington Post columnist — moaning that the press doesn’t focus on what she called “the strength of my leadership.”

    When Kamala Harris in her delusion makes a statement like this, she believes that she is going to be the next president.

    Only God can help us now, because our politicians on both sides are without doubt an existential threat to us all.

    Does the Democrat party machine plan on taking this Facade president / politician theme concept to the extreme?

    Why change what is working for you?

  • Dave Walden

    Contour:

    Except for your apparent premise that belief in a supernatural Creator is THE belief that must be practiced so as to avoid “belief” in government and its inevitable consequences, I agree with your outstanding response!

    Therefore, with your assertion that “only God can help us now” being fallacious, I would argue, in response, that Reason – upon which our country has come closer to recognizing/practicing than has any other socio-economic society in history, is the only thing that will help us!

    As an important aside, yes, there are elements of Christian religious philosophy upon which our country was founded, but it was predominantly founded using those elements of Christian philosophy that were rational – i. e., reflective of the Reason of The Enlightenment! The remainder of said philosophy is the very antithesis of rational values – particularly its moral ideals of sacrifice and duty to others or a “higher” power.

    Until THAT is challenged and left for each of us to determine (which is the highest of virtues “we” ought to collectively embrace), then each of us will continue to be collectively forced to not only leave others free to live their lives as they wish, morally governed only by respect for each of the rest of us to do the same, but compelled by others who claim they do so only for the “welfare” of the tribe (however defined)! A claim made that it is to the benefit of all, and forced to comply …,……, OR ELSE!

    Dave

  • Cotour

    Dave:

    You use the words “rational”, “reason” and “moral” in regard to where the Founders came from and what the Founders intended, and those words are subjective Pedestrian Realm ideal words / terms.

    And I agree that those ideals were the takeaways from the enlightenment and are at the core of the strength and power of America and its Constitution. All primarily based in the Judeo / Christian ethic and reason. Not necessarily based in any religion per se which is but a construct of man I.E. essentially a business model of control.

    HOWEVER, the Founders also knew exactly the tyrannical realities they were dealing with. Human beings especially when they achieve power, particularly great political power they will in time abuse that power. 100%.

    This is the lens that I see all of this through:

    EXPLANATION: Strategy Over Morality describes a two-tiered “conversation” between a Public and their Politically Empowered Leadership where the Public believes there is only a single, no tiered conversation occurring. And that single conversation is assumed by the Public to relate to the Public’s morality and truth model perspective.

    ​CONCLUSION: The public lives and operates under a subjective moral code or within a “Pedestrian Realm” perspective which they assume their leadership which exists within the “Political Realm” is constrained by. This is a subjective false perspective conclusion on the part of the public. Leadership at its existential core is not about morality, truth and honesty. Politically empowered Political Realm leadership is about the fundamental exercise of power and “Its” subjective agenda interests and “It’s” political power prevailing.

    (Extension: Strategy Over Morality describes a model in which leadership or their empowered subordinates within government can subjectively justify an interpretation of their core fiduciary responsibilities which becomes paramount over and above the public’s truth and morality model interests. Where plausible deniability can be claimed when “necessary” “immoral” acts or modified “truth” strategies (lies) are employed or executed by leadership, their subordinates or by arm’s length leadership proxies.) jgl 2011

    And this lens IMO has been validated over and over again as we in the Political Realm are served grudgingly the actual truth of our actual reality and not the reality presented by our current government or past governments.

    Q: When is the last time that you believe your government has told you the truth about ANYTHING?

  • Cotour

    The FBI = arm’s length government proxies: https://youtu.be/l5w5T_iesNk

    Government in power (D) enforcers in other words.

    The FBI and other similar forces within government chooses the government in America.

    Government in America is selected and not elected.

    And that is not how its supposed to work, but there is all the same. Why did and do they do that? Because they can.

  • jburn

    Mosques don’t appear to suffer this aggression.
    Muslim communities rapidly ejected their respective school board “representatives” who pushed woke culture onto the students. Hollywood is strictly hands off when it come to the Islamic culture versus it’s relentless attacks on Christian culture.
    Are Muslims ever targeted by government zealots?
    Perhaps Christians and Jews have been far too passive for far too long.

  • Cotour

    Christians bad because the country is based primarily in the foundation of Christianity.

    How do you wrest absolute power away from the people?

    Destroy everything that they understand as being normal and good.

    The Simpsons explains it the best.

    https://apis.mail.aol.com/ws/v3/mailboxes/@.id==VjN-_95qz8vtNQnj2guvJpSi615JXjYizy9bcZuM2MCqJDk8zBIwKj0CmLH_qmCDE5NsTJVJXmOu9vG5vVhaOWavzw/messages/@.id==AEGjBiA2dkOjY6ppPQQayETR0YY/content/parts/@.id==2/refresh?appid=AolMailNorrin&ymreqid=d41d8cd9-8f00-b204-1c2e-850bca015200

  • George C

    Cotour, a url to an AOL email api does not work for me, an error code is returned.

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