The United States Justice Department’s special treatment of far-left extremism is raising eyebrows.
2022 saw an increase in the deployment of lawfare legislation against pro-life individuals, while investigations, and prosecutions of those who threaten or destroy, church, or pro-life property dwindled.
Explaining the inconsistency in how the DOJ treats pro-abortion criminals versus their pro-life victims, Family Research Council (FRC) analysed incidents from 2018-2022.
The report reveals an increase in far-left extremist violence against churches and pro-life organisations.
As well as an increasing ignorance about these crimes among the general public, and a tendency for law enforcement to ‘brush aside the significance of vandalism or other acts of hostility against churches.’
This is despite the FBI recording ‘hate crimes, which includes crimes motivated by an anti-religious bias.’
FRC said, ‘in 2021, the FBI reported 240 anti-Christian “hate crimes.” This was up from 213 anti-Christian incidents in 2020.’
Using open-source documents, their analysis, ‘identified a total of 420 documented acts of hostility that targeted 397 individual churches.’
The scope of their findings included ‘incidents which occurred between January 2018 and September 2022 across 45 U.S. states and Washington, D.C.’
Talking specifics, the FRC explained:
“There were 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.” (p.4)
Offering reasons for Western governments violating religious freedoms, the two different standards in which the law is applied, and non-government violence against Christians, the FRC defined the problem as societal.
‘Criminal acts of vandalism and destruction of church property are likely symptomatic of a collapse in societal reverence and respect for houses of worship and religion—in this case, churches and Christianity,’ they stated.
In spite of arbitrary, ever-expanding “hate speech” laws, and society’s social conditioning emphasis on tolerance, inclusion, and “diversity,” FRC described ‘Americans as being increasingly comfortable with lashing out against Christians.’
They have no problem with the marginalisation of the Church when it comes to tried and true, ‘Christian teaching on human dignity and sexuality.’
The FRC concluded that their report is ‘not comprehensive,’ adding that a lot of violence, and threats go underreported:
“Many acts of hostility against churches are likely not reported to authorities and/or are not featured in the news or other online sources from which we collected data. Thus, the number of acts of hostility is undoubtedly much higher than the number reflected in this report.” (p.7)
FRC’s findings certainly match the level of incidents.
In May, abortion anarchists ramped up their ‘defend Roe’ death march, firebombing the Wisconsin pro-life office of Family Action.
The same month a Catholic church in Colorado was vandalised, and in New York, activists blocked entry to St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
In September Caldron Pool reported on an 84-year-old pro-life grandmother who was shot in the back after being hounded away from a property in Michigan.
Each case saw a delayed – almost disinterested – response from law enforcement.
Pause here and note the significant contrast between actions not taken against far-left extremists and actions taken against so-called right-wing extremists, based on a woke mythological account of January 6.
Not all is doom and gloom.
Based on information sourced by Daily Wire alum, Mary Margaret Olohan, ‘94% of Americans oppose using violence against churches, or places of worship. 92% oppose using violence against the pro-life pregnancy centres.’
Writing for The Daily Signal, Olohan recounted, ‘93% of those surveyed oppose protesters harassing worshippers attending church, and 91% oppose such activities at pregnancy resource centres.’
Addressing the Justice Department’s inconsistencies, Olohan recalled that the DOJ ‘has faced intense criticism for failing to prosecute those who vandalized, attacked, or firebombed these pregnancy centres and churches.’
When asked to explain the special treatment of far-left extremists, the DOJ refused to answer.
Yet, as Olohan points out, Biden’s justice department ‘has been quick to charge 26 pro-life individuals with FACE Act violations since the beginning of the year.’ (See here)
This includes the heavy-handed SWAT smackdown, and arrest of pro-life father of seven, Mark Houck, at his home in September.
Houck, and his family of eight were violently awakened early one Friday morning by AR-15-wielding federal law enforcement officers pounding on doors, preparing to breach their home (see here).
His alleged crime was ‘accosting an aggressive pro-abortion activist,’ an incident Houck’s defence argues was self-defence.
Outside the trauma caused to his family by Build Back Better Biden’s ordained bullying, the pro-life pastoral carer now faces ‘11 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $350,000.’
As I explained in a Caldron Pool analysis of President Joe Biden’s September “Unity Speech,” the Left’s domestic terrorism double standard is another bleedingly obvious example of “rules for thee, and not for me.”
This double standard is not the exception, it’s the rule.
Nothing exemplifies this more than Biden’s “Unity Speech,” which was easily translated as the President segregating the nation into two groups of people: ‘Democrats, and domestic terrorists.’
