Open season on Christians

I have waited awhile to write this column.

I waited because I was sure that after the East Coast hurricanes died
down, the media would once again focus a little attention on the hate
crime in a Fort Worth Baptist church last week. I was wrong. The victims
of this massacre are dead, buried and, apparently, forgotten by the U.S.
press establishment.

Curiously, unlike the Columbine High School tragedy, even the
politicians haven’t done much hand wringing over the mass shooting. Both
President Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno did, of course, use
the incident as an excuse to lecture the nation about the need for more
government control of guns.

What accounts for the short memory with regard to this terrible
crime?

I’ll give you my theory — anti-Christian bigotry in the
establishment media and government.

I’m sorry to say there’s simply no other explanation that holds up.

Think about it. Remember a few months ago when the Jewish center in
Los Angeles was shot up? It was a terrible crime. But for comparison’s
sake, there was only one fatality. Seven people were murdered in Fort
Worth — most of them children. The Jewish center shooting was BIG news.
It was a story that had legs. It held the front pages in major markets
and on network television broadcasts for days. Fort Worth was a one-day
story.

You’ll notice also that you didn’t hear Reno or any of the usual
suspects denounce the Fort Worth massacre as a “hate crime.” Why?
There’s only one explanation. The victims were not part of a politically
protected class — homosexuals, abortionists, members of a racial
minority, etc. They were, pardon the expression, just white kids —
fresh-faced, clean-cut Christian kids, expendable by the government’s
standards. They were not part of a politically protected “species” —
not the kind of constituency that consistently votes for bigger
government, higher taxes and looks to politicians for salvation.

My theory is further validated by the fact that Columbine was such a
big story, yet the mainstream press missed one of the most fascinating
angles of it. Christian kids at the high school were singled out and
targeted for death because of their faith by the demonic gunmen — just
as they were in Fort Worth.

Isn’t that news? Isn’t it newsworthy that persecution of Christians
is taking place in America today? Isn’t it interesting that the
government turns a blind eye to this kind of trend while inventing
special classes of hate crimes in an effort to protect other groups?

I, for one, don’t believe in “hate crimes.” I don’t believe you
should punish people for their thoughts — only their deeds. “Hate
crimes” as government defines them are actually “thought crimes.”
Thought crimes are un-American and unconstitutional.

I am not, therefore, advocating that the killings of these kids
should be treated more seriously than the murders of, say, some
non-Christian kids somewhere. All I’m wondering is why their deaths are
forgotten so quickly and the motives of the gunmen hardly explored.

The answer, by the way, isn’t fewer guns. That’s what Reno wants. She
came very close to calling for a “final solution” in her press
conference on the Fort Worth tragedy. She said, “It is going to require
the commitment of all Americans to look at the issue of how we handle
guns, of how we deal with mental illness, of how we deal with hate. We
don’t know what the situation is here, but all of these events cry out
for America to come together and to address them in an effective,
permanent manner.” Did you catch that “permanent”?

The fact is that the elite no longer care — if they ever did —
about the wanton slaughter of Christians in America. Christians should
take note. Put your faith in God, not in Caesar. But, at the same time,
don’t overlook the value of Smith & Wesson.