Loathing the West: The Real Reason Why “Anti-Racism” Protestors Desecrate Christian Churches
August 25, 2020
— William Shakespeare, Hamlet (Act II, Scene II)
“Last weekend, at least four Catholic Church-affiliated buildings and statues from Boston to Los Angeles were set on fire or vandalized. A blaze that gutted the 249-year-old San Gabriel Mission, once led by Father Junipero Serra, is being investigated as possible arson” reported the Washington Times on July 15. The piece was titled “’No place for God’: Left-wing protesters turn focus to churches as vandalism, arson escalate.”
The article quoted Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle who said: “Given that
there were four attacks on Catholic churches nationwide over a 48 hour period, from July 10 to July 12, suspicion, obviously, turns toward the left wing extremists who have been toppling statues of Saint Junipero Serra and attempting to remove a statue of Saint Louis.”
On June 1, the Catholic News Agency put out a wire headlined “Churches in 6 states damaged by violent protests.” It read in part:
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“Church buildings in California,
Minnesota, New York, Kentucky, Texas, and Colorado were attacked. Many
of the defaced or damaged churches were cathedrals. The Cathedral
Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver sustained permanent
damage. Vandals repeatedly struck the Denver cathedral on multiple
nights of the protests and riots over the weekend. The church building
and rectory were spray painted with the slogans “Pedofiles” [sic], “God
is dead,” “There is no God,” along with other anti-police, anarchist,
and anti-religion phrases and symbols.”
On July 22, the Wall Street Journal published a piece
called “Desecration of Catholic Churches Across U.S. Leaves
Congregations Shaken.” The sub-headline was: “More than half a dozen
incidents in recent weeks include arson, decapitation of statues of
Jesus and the Virgin Mary.” The piece opened as follows:
“Parishioners and clergy were shocked and
grieving following a spate of vandalism at Catholic churches in various
U.S. cities in recent weeks. Catholic institutions from Boston to
Florida reported more than half a dozen attacks on church property,
including statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, between July 10 and 16.”
On July 21, the CNS network released an item headlined “Statue of Jesus beheaded in Florida among latest attacks on Catholic churches.” It began:
“The beheading of a statue of Christ at a
Catholic church in the Miami Archdiocese has saddened the parish
community of Good Shepherd Church and prompted Miami Archbishop Thomas
G. Wenski to call on law enforcement to investigate the incident as a
hate crime. On July 15, the statue at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in
Southwest Miami-Dade was found with its head chopped off and knocked
from its pedestal.”
“Churches burned and vandalized in riots” announced a headline
from the Washington Examiner. The article commenced with this sentence:
“Several churches were burned and vandalized over the weekend as
protests of police brutality turned to rioting and looting in many
American cities.” Three paragraphs later we learned that “St. Patrick’s
Cathedral in New York City, one of the most famous churches in America,
was vandalized Saturday night with references to the Black Lives Matter
movement and the F-word.”
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The question that arises is this: Why would those marching under the auspices of Black Lives Matter while protesting the death of George Floyd attack Christian churches? What exactly is the logical link between their professed cause – which is anti-racism – and their onslaught on Christian houses of worship?
Christianity, after all, played no part in the unfortunate George Floyd incident. There is no indication that the officers involved in his arrest were motivated by religious sentiments. In the days that followed, Christian pastors and figures across the spectrum unanimously expressed grief over Floyd’s death and churches across the land conducted services and held vigils in his name.
The violence of “anti-racism” protestors against Christian symbols and houses of worship has left many people startled and confused. Understandably so, since there seems to be no detectable link between the demonstrators stated goals and their actions. This obvious contradiction was pointed out by Valerie Richardson writing in the Washington Times: “It would be quite a stretch to blame churches for George Floyd’s death, police brutality or Confederate memorials, yet houses of worship and religious statues are coming under attack in the protest mayhem.”
To say it would be “quite a stretch” is an obvious understatement. The protestors’ rhetoric and behavior would appear outright self-contradictory, and yet one cannot but feel that there is a method in this apparent madness. Why, then, we ask, do champions of racial justice attack sacred Christian objects? Why do they behead statues of Jesus and topple those of the Virgin Mary?
Their behavior will appear inexplicable only as long as we accept at face value the stated goal of the protests, which, they say, is the elimination of racism. Racial justice, however, is what this movement is about. In an earlier piece, we have suggested that the actual purpose of this “anti-racism” campaign is the subversion of Western civilization. Once we clearly grasp this truth, the apparently irrational blitz by “anti-racism” protestors on Christian artefacts will no longer seem incoherent. It will, in fact, make perfect sense.
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Along with our Greco-Roman heritage, Christianity has been one of
the two great pillars of Western culture. It was Catholic Christianity
that kept the light of civilization through the Dark Ages in Europe and
that subsequently carried the continent into the Renaissance and beyond.
It was Catholic Christianity that inspired and brought into being the
magnificent Cathedrals of Europe and the stupendous marbles of
Michelangelo and all of the great art in between. It was the great
theologians of the Church who spoke of the infinite worth of the human
soul and prepared that ground for the revolutionary idea that all human
beings – no matter how great or small – are entitled to equal
considerations and rights. (Tellingly, the West is not the only
civilization which believes this, but also the only one which has
implemented this idea in practice.) Later it was the Protestant ethic of
hard work, frugality and deferred gratification that helped fuel the
forces of free market capitalism which generated unprecedented levels of
prosperity for ordinary people. We could speak for hours about the
countless ways in which Christianity – both of the Catholic and
Protestant strain – shaped and advanced Western civilization. But this
is not necessary, since its influence is all-too obvious: Much of our
culture, our moral sensibility, our ethical codes, the manner in which
we conduct our societal life and, in fact, the very way we look at the
world derives directly or indirectly from the Christian religion.Therefore, any movement that would seek to undermine Western civilization must sooner or later turn on the West’s Christian heritage. This is inevitable. Being such a movement, the “anti-racism” crusade that is sweeping across Western democracies has done exactly that. The moment we grasp the true driving force behind this movement, its attacks on Christian symbols will be seen as completely natural and predictable.
We pointed out previously how the “anti-racism” protesters’ attacks on the statues of great men who contributed to the advancement of the West is driven by their anti-Western agenda. The desecration of Christian churches is born of the same psychological impulse – aversion toward Western civilization and the desire to bring it down.
There are many aspects of the protestors’ behavior that reveal what they are truly about. For example, if they were genuinely concerned about racism, they would surely stage at least some of their events in front of mosques. Mosques, as most people know, represent a civilizational stream that has been pronouncedly racist. Not only do most Islamic societies engage in blatant racist practices to this very day, they actually see nothing wrong with it. And yet the self-proclaimed anti-racism protestors voice no complaints in that direction. Do you see the contradiction here?
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It is worrisome that so many people do not see through this. This
fact is attested by the vast amounts of donations from individuals,
organizations and corporations to various racial justice groups and
especially Black Lives Matter, the organization under whose auspices the
“protests” are conducted. The New York Times ran a piece
in June titled “Racial Justice Groups Flooded With Millions in
Donations” in which it reported that such groups received 90 million
dollars in contributions for their bail funds alone. The bail funds are,
of course, used to assist those arrested for widespread violence and
criminal destruction of public and private property that has been taking
place during these so-called protests.There are, however, some people who see the truth of the matter. One of them is Ken Blackwell, a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Commission. This is what he said: “These folks have an agenda, which is to fundamentally transform America.” Ken Blackwell is correct. The vandals’ objective is not, as so many people assume, to eliminate one form of alleged injustice from our society. Since in the United States and in other Western democracies institutional racism is non-existent (see here, here and here), objections against it cannot be genuine. The intention is not to fix a non-existent problem, but to tear down societies on which this false charge is hoisted. The attack on Christianity is part and parcel of this undertaking.
This project is not confined to the United States. Because it has not been reported in the media, most Americans do not realize that in recent years there have been many attacks on Christian sites in Europe. According to a report from Gatestone Institute:
“[R]oughly 3,000 Christian churches,
schools, cemeteries and monuments were vandalized, looted or defaced in
Europe during 2019 — which is on track to becoming a record year for
anti-Christian sacrilege on the continent. Violence against Christian
sites is most widespread in France, where churches, schools, cemeteries
and monuments are being vandalized, desecrated and burned at an average
rate of three per day, according to government statistics. In Germany,
attacks against Christian churches are occurring at an average rate of
two per day, according to police blotters. Attacks on Christian churches
and symbols are also commonplace in Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Ireland,
Italy and Spain. The attacks overwhelmingly involve Roman Catholic
sites and symbols, although in Germany, Protestant churches are also
being targeted.”
It can only be expected that such attacks will accelerate – both in
Europe and the US – as “anti-racism” protests gain pace. The protestors
themselves make their intentions clear as they barely attempt to hide
their true motives. In many cases they do not bother to make even
tenuous links between their faux cause of “anti-racism” and their
attacks on Christianity. In fact, they are surprisingly brazen about
their goals. By inscribing slogans such as “God is dead,” and “There is
no God” and by drawing anarchist and pagan graffiti on the walls of
Christian edifices, these “anti-racism” protesters could not be more
clear about what they really want.
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Just think about it: What do pagan symbols have to do with the struggle for “racial justice?” Have pagan cultures ever been known for their racial tolerance and equality? Have they ever been known to treat minorities with compassion and understanding? Anyone who knows anything about history knows that there has been little social justice in pagan cultures. As a rule, the way pagan societies treat their minorities is appalling. To express this truth in modern idiom, pagan cultures almost invariably discriminate – often brutally – on the basis of race, gender, national original, disability, sexual orientation and on the basis of whatever else that can make one different from the ruling elite in charge. The only societies that have treated minorities with understanding and compassion have been those arising from the Western civilizational stream. Western societies are the only ones in history in which minorities are given the full measure of human respect and equal rights. As far as we know, there have been no significant social justice movement in pagan societies. This should not surprise, since any would-be activists against oppression in non-Christian cultures usually come to a quick end.
Pagan cultures do not suffer social warriors gladly. The only truly successful social justice movement in the world – one that has won equal rights for all people in certain societies – has been the civilizing influence of Christian culture. It is only after non-western societies come into contact with the West that their minorities can hope for fair treatment and equal rights. Why, then, today’s Western “anti-racist” warriors defile Christian churches with pagan symbols and crass obscenities? The anarchist signs – painted right next to the pagan ones – tell us what they are really after: the toppling of society. Could the message be any more obvious?
The evidence the protestors leave behind unmistakably shows that their desecration of Christian artifacts has nothing to do with concerns about racism. Rather it is an expression of an aversion toward Western civilization of which Christianity has been a great pillar. The incoherent rhetoric and self-contradictory behavior make it plain that it is the subversion of Western culture that is the ultimate goal of today’s “social justice” movement.
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