Sutherland Springs Victims Are No Less Victims Because They Are Christians

In the aftermath of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida on June 12, 2016, conservatives and liberals alike condemned the evil acts of Omar Mateen.

After 49 people were killed, and another 53 were wounded, no one cared whether or not they agreed with the lifestyle of those who lost their lives. No conservative that I know of, and certainly not I, tried to downplay the tragedy of such a shockingly evil act simply because the victims were gay or lesbian. The loss of any human life is a tragedy, as all are made in the image of the Almighty.

Advertisement

Yet, the unity shown between conservatives and liberals in the aftermath of Orlando was strangely missing following the Sutherland church shooting on Sunday.

On Sunday morning at 11:30am, 26 year old Devin Kelley walked into First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, and murdered 26 people and wounded dozens more. Instead of solidarity, too many voices on the left have sought to politicize the shooting, and have even mocked the victims in the process. Such lack of civility is unacceptable as a small community of 400 grapples with the realization that a former member of the Air Force, who was court-martialed in 2012 on assault charges, killed more than two dozen of its citizens.

Within hours of the shooting, liberal commentators were blaming the mass murder on GOP support for gun rights, and mocking the faith of the deceased. Liberal actor Wil Wheaton, for example, lashed out at Speaker Paul Ryan saying that “The murdered victims were in a church. If prayers did anything, they’d still be alive, you worthless sack of sh&#.”

Comedian Chelsea Handler went even further, writing on Twitter that “Innocent people go to church on Sunday to honor their God, and while doing so, get shot in killed. What country? America. Why? Republicans.”

Instead of honoring the fallen, and praying comfort for their families, leftists are attacking the faith and ideology of the victims, something liberals would have been rightly outraged over if conservatives had done so after Orlando.

In times like these all Americans, regardless of their faith or party affiliation, need to be merely human. We should seek to comfort and to heal, to mourn and to honor. The time for policy debate and understanding the ideology of the attacker will come, but it is not while the victims’ blood still stains the seats where they worshipped. If human decency cannot trump political expediency at a time like this, then national unity is little more than a pipe dream.

Advertisement

Americans across the political spectrum are good and decent people. We came together after September 11th, the Boston Marathon Bombing, the Charleston Church shooting, the Pulse nightclub nightmare, and the Las Vegas massacre. We must do so again now.

There is something seriously wrong in our society, and I think it is more spiritual than political. We must all now do our part to heal the soul of America, before more Americans lose their lives in an ever-escalating instability brought-on by cultural chaos and moral decay.

 

Recommended

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Trending on RedState Videos