Today is in one sense a typical day in America as we saw another mass shooting. Not just on a Sunday, but at a Mormon Church in Michigan. The violence has been roundly denounced from people across the political spectrum. Conservatives predictably, and with few details on the shooter (who took his own life) and what batshit insane thinking caused him to do what he did, started pointing fingers at Democrats/liberals. AND touting the notion (again!) about an attack on Christianity itself. Am I the only one who’s noticed that over the years (decades actually) when Black churches get bombed, burned or shot up we don’t hear conservatives claiming ‘Attacks on Christians/Christianity?” Hmmmm.
I call bullshit. The half-assed theories are flying, from this being some ‘godless liberal’, to a revenge against Mormons over the Charlie Kirk murder, to Trans or LBGTQ activists and of course Muslims. Let’s deal with that last one first. Yes, Michigan, and the Detroit area in particular, has a significant Muslim population but from what little we know was a guy named Thomas Jacob Sanford. According to the Detroit Free Press Sanford (killed by police but not before setting fire to the church after shooting it up) was forty years old and lived in quiet Burton, Michigan. He served in my Marine Corps during Operation Iraqi Freedom and his M.O.S. was auto repair and vehicle recovery.
According to neighbors, he lived with his wife, a child and ‘maybe his mother’ and nothing seemed out of the ordinary with him. One guy said Sandford mowed his lawn. He’d also clear people’s driveways for free. Needless to say those willing to talk to reporters didn’t have comments indicated he was some activist. Just a quiet and helpful neighbor. That doesn’t sound like some ‘radical Muslim’ or a member of a super-double-secret-probation Muslim terrorist cell to me. Nor while we’re at it, some crazed Trans or LBGTQ activist. Or even political, much less some ‘liberal operative.’ Just some guy with what turned out to be faulty ‘wiring’ that shorted out and suddenly went nuts for some reason.
However what’s really jumping out at me is this whole attack on Christianity crap conservatives are peddling. Mormons are as white a denomination as it gets. I’m sure there are non-whites and I’m sure they are welcome but let’s be real. We are talking WHITE, and quite conservative in their Christian beliefs. Still, as this article from the Daily Beast tells us, in addition to talk of plots of liberals trying to frame MAGAs, to people blaming Trans or LBGTQ folks or of course Muslims there is a chorus of Christian Nationalists claiming yet another ‘attack in the War on Christianity.’
Let’s face a truth: Christian Nationalists are talking about WHITE, ‘Real American’ people when they talk about Christians and Christianity needing to be ordained (first amendment be damned) as our national religion. THEIR warped version of it of course. I know some of these people, and sometimes interact with them via Facebook when I look at posts from people I knew growing up. Not only are they fervent in their WHITE Christian beliefs that ignore the actual teachings of Jesus in the Bible they claim should be our manual for government, to them, MUSLIMS are lower than cockroaches. And need to be exterminated.
That’s how you get crazies like Laura Loomer who is batshit insane yet has Trump’s ear weighing in and leading others to say similar crazy stuff:
“Hate against Christians is widespread in places like Michigan because the entire state is being taken over by Muslims who refuse to assimilate,” far-right influencer and noted 9/11 Truther Laura Loomer wrote of a state where less than 3% of the population identify as adherents of Islam, citing zero evidence the shooter was Muslim.
“Beware Michigan!” she added. “Only you can stop the Islamic invasion of your state before it becomes uninhabitable for Christians and Jews.”
I’m certain that last part “and Jews” was a last minute throw-in. Loomer, like the rest of these asshats, believes any Jewish person who doesn’t convert to Christian is destined for Hell. But she has to give a nod to maintain support from Zionists. The Daily Beast has plenty of other comments from those chiming in with agreement with Loomer or blaming other people/groups I’ve already mentioned.
Of course, Trump, who as I said pays attention to Loomer (When she says fire someone he does! How can we get her pissed off at Hegseth, Bondi and Noem?), he listens. So Trumpty naturally took to Truth Social to play fake Christian and share his own feelings. Sorry, I can’t embed the tweet but it includes this:
Says the guy ordering our National Guard and even active military to American cities trying to provoke confrontations that will give troops a chance to shoot people! As I said, you should check out the Daily Beast article for the comments echoing Loomer and Trumpty. However, I want to get to the point of this. Where are people like Loomer and Trump (and the others) when there’s violence at a black, or even Hispanic church?
I’m in my late sixties now. That means I’m old enough to remember the evening news when the Birmingham Alabama church bombing killed four little girls. The reaction of adults was mixed and confusing to a kid my age. Some were genuinely horrified, as they were by other goings on back then. Some were like my P.O.S. KKK grandfather – pissed that the bomb only killed four girls instead of a church full of black (he used a different word of course) people. Some were more nuanced which I wasn’t old enough to fully grasp. I’d realize it was that it was a weaker version of what my grandfather said. It was a shame so they said four children died but they had little to say about a black church being bombed.
As in the 1950s, the 1960s (and beyond) had plenty of violence at black churches. Burnings and bombing and sometimes “Strange Fruit” as in lynchings at trees outside them. It’s a long, ugly list you can read in this Wikipedia link but it goes back to post Civil War. You really should check out the list. But let’s take a look at just the last ten years, bookended by White Supremacist and neo-Nazi Dylann Roof murdering nine people (and wounding more) at a black church in South Carolina. At least it led to the racist state flag being ‘retired’ but 2015 saw a rash of burnings of black churches.
That continued of course. Including one earlier this year in Memphis. A church important in the Civil Rights movement but no longer in use was being restored when it was burned by an arsonist. It had links to MLK even. What I want to note is that in all that violence which includes murder I only noticed one where anti-Christian sentiment was attributed to the criminal. These were Christian churches, yet (someone correct me if I’m wrong) we didn’t hear conservative leaders, much less a President decry a single one as an attack on Christianity itself.
I say to hell with Loomer, Trump and the others. They should go screw themselves and sideways. They don’t care about shootings or attacks on churches unless it’s a WHITE church. Then all of a sudden it’s liberals, Antifa or some other bogeyman they conjure up in their warped, sick minds representing a Soros inspired LIBERAL attack on their Jeebus and “Christianity.” This hypocrisy is sickening. And if I’m wrong and there is a Heaven and Hell (for the record I’ve been agnostic for decades but was raised in the Christian faith and still believe what Jesus actually taught was something all should try to live up to), I’d love to be able to see just one of them stand there at the Pearly Gates. And when they said they belong in Heaven, watch St. Peter tell them ‘No, you belong in Hell and open the trap door beneath their feet. And listen to their panicked cries of NOOOOOOOOO! as they descend into Hell!
