Growing Christian Persecution
What explains the fact that the number of attacks against churches doubled last year to more than 430 incidents?
Many Christians in America are painfully aware of the horrible persecution that is inflicted on our brothers and sisters overseas by hostile governments and Islamic supremacists.
But what many don’t seem to realize is that there is growing hatred and violence against Christians here in America. And if it isn’t stopped, outright persecution isn’t far behind.
A shocking new report from the Family Research Council, which I led for 10 years, should set off alarm bells in the American Church.
The report covered all kinds of violence over the last six years, including arson, bomb threats, vandalism and even shootings. Sadly, there is a clear pattern. These attacks are not isolated incidents, and they are happening with greater frequency every year.
For example, there were 55 incidents of hostility toward churches in 2020. In 2021, there were 96 incidents. In 2022, there were nearly 200 attacks.
One explanation for why the number of attacks against churches doubled from 2021 to 2022 could be the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, triggering a wave of violence from pro-abortion extremists.
But what explains the fact that the number of attacks against churches doubled again last year to more than 430 incidents?
Make no mistake about it: This violence is motivated by unhinged forces on the political left. That’s why it gets so little attention from the left-wing media. That’s why the attacks in Texas and Tennessee by transgender individuals against Christians disappeared so quickly from the headlines.
Intolerant leftists routinely smear Christians as the “American Taliban” and “Christian nationalists.” They accuse us of being a “threat to democracy.”
They hate us because we believe in the sanctity of life, because we believe marriage is the union of a man and a woman, and because we believe in the biological, scientific reality that a person’s sex cannot change.
And as we have repeatedly warned, the persecution of Christians is not just violent attacks. Increasingly, it is coming from radical government policies that seek to marginalize and punish people of faith, whether it’s peaceful pro-life activists or parents just trying to raise their children according to their values.
Biden vs. GCU
There is a major legal battle taking place in Arizona right now, highlighting the left’s abuse of government power to crush Christians.
In 2021, the Biden administration launched a jihad against Grand Canyon University (GCU), the largest Christian university in the United States. The Department of Education alleged that GCU defrauded students by failing to accurately disclose the costs of its doctoral programs.
Last year, Biden’s Education Department hit GCU with an unprecedented $37 million fine, the largest fine ever levied by the department.
You would think they would have good cause for that extreme penalty. But just like Donald Trump’s unprecedented New York trial, where no one claimed they were defrauded, the department did not cite any student complaints in its lawsuit against GCU.
It appears that these neo-Marxist bureaucrats are following the old Soviet tactic of identifying a target and then making things up in order to punish them.
But that’s not all. Biden’s Federal Trade Commission is also targeting the university with another lawsuit!
I am pleased to report that attorneys for the conservative Goldwater Institute are fighting back. They are suing the federal government for all communications and any documents that may explain why federal bureaucrats are persecuting GCU with such a draconian fine.
The Goldwater Institute attorneys noted how ridiculous the $37 million fine is given that Penn State and Michigan State were fined $2.4 million and $4.5 million, respectively, for covering up serial sexual abuse.
By the way, Biden’s Department of Education is also threatening Liberty University, America’s second-largest Christian university, with a $37 million fine.
Coincidence? I think not.
Trump’s Town Hall
While Joe Biden is refusing Super Bowl interviews and struggling through two-minute online videos, Donald Trump is holding big rallies and town hall events all across America. Tuesday night, he participated in a town hall event in South Carolina with Laura Ingraham. Here are some highlights.
Trump challenged Joe Biden to a debate, saying, “I’ll do it right now,” adding, “I think you have an obligation in this case … As many as necessary. I could do it starting now.”
An audience member asked Trump how he would reassure undecided voters that a second term wouldn’t be about revenge and “settling old scores.” Trump replied, “I don’t care about the revenge thing… My revenge will be success.”
Asked about possible running mates, Laura Ingraham identified a very impressive list of contenders, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott, and Vivek Ramaswamy. Trump said they were all on his list.
On the multiple efforts by the left to destroy him, Trump said, “It is a form of Navalny (the Russian dissident who was just found dead). It is a form of communism or fascism… These are vicious people.”
Trump also pointed to another situation in New York City. Not long ago, Mayor Eric Adams warned that Biden’s open borders would “destroy” his city. But then the Biden administration went after him. Trump said:
“I’m not even blaming the mayor. I think the mayor has sort of been told to take the backseat … because they came after him violently. They came after him like they were going to indict him when he started speaking up, and now he’s become quiet. These are fascists we’re dealing with.”
Trump is right, my friends.
We are in uncharted territory and at risk of losing our liberty. As I noted above, the neo-Marxist left is using the power of government as an iron fist to “fundamentally transform” America into radical secular socialist country with totalitarian tendencies to stamp out all dissent.
Everyone of us must redouble our efforts to bring one person — a friend or family member — our way in this critical decision year for America.
Polling shows that “disengaged” or “reluctant” voters are generally conservatives who support Trump. Their votes could make the difference, and we need every one of them this November to end the Biden/Harris regime!
Migrantifa
We should not underestimate the criminal and even revolutionary potential that exists because of Joe Biden’s open borders and unprecedented mass migration into the United States.
Last week, New York City police officers were attacked again when they tried to arrest someone at a migrant shelter who wasn’t authorized to be there.
Law enforcement professionals say that vicious gangs in Venezuela and elsewhere already operating in the U.S. are recruiting from the vast numbers of single male migrants of prime fighting age to be their “soldiers.”
Gordon Chang, an expert on communist China, is warning that a Chinese army, walking across our border, is being pre-positioned inside the U.S.
Now Europe is facing the same danger.
Germany is reporting the emergence of a new hard-left street group, meaning street fighters, called “Migrantifa” — a merger of migrant and anti-fascist action.
Thousands of its followers demonstrated in Berlin recently, blending anger over Israel’s war against Hamas with alleged German racism against the massive migrant influx in that country.
Their main goal is a “classless society,” which historically usually ends up with successful individuals being killed.
Policies Matter Most
Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report triggered a national conservation about Joe Biden’s age and mental acuity. And it really triggered Joe Biden!
While Biden reminds us almost daily that his age and health are serious concerns, voters really need to be focused on his policies because it’s policies — not gaffes or “mean tweets” — that matter most.
Read more in my latest opinion piece at the AFA’s The Stand.