The Martyrdom of Christians in America

Picking up where I left off on Friday (October 16), I’d like to have you reflect on something Fox News & Commentary host, Todd Starnes, wrote for Townhall.com is a piece he entitled – “The Day Christians Were Martyred on American Soil.”

Regarding the anti-Christian gunman who stormed into a classroom at Oregon’s Umpqua Community College, Starnes wrote, “Life or death was determined by the answer to a single question: Are you a Christian?”  That was the question asked by the shooter … according to eyewitnesses.

Kortney Moore was inside the classroom.  She told the Roseburg Beacon News that the shooter ordered students to get on the ground – and then told them to stand up and state their religion.

“And they would stand up and he said, ‘Good, because you’re a Christian, you’re going to see God in just about one second,’” Stacy Boylan said in a televised report.  “And then he shot and killed them.”  18-year-old Boylan was struck in the back by a bullet – that traveled down her spine.  She survived … as did Moore.

Starnes wrote, “Christians were martyred for their faith – on American soil – a fact mostly ignored by most of the mainstream media and the White House.  The New York Times only mentioned that the gun-man inquired about people’s ‘religions’ and one cable television news channel opined that the shooter’s motive was unclear.”

Is it politically incorrect to address the persecution of Christians?  If so, that would explain why the White House has expressed less than passionate outrage over the near-genocide of Christians in the Middle East.  And that could also explain why the Obama Administration has failed to secure the release of an American pastor being tortured in an Iranian jail.

Starnes concludes: “These days ‘lambs being led to the slaughter’ is not exactly a politically correct narrative.  I cannot even begin to imagine the courage it took for our fellow believers to stand – knowing that to do so – would require the ultimate sacrifice.  But their families can take comfort in knowing that after they took their last breath on Earth, they took their first breath in Heaven.”

Given the same question asked by the shooter – “Are you a Christian? – What is your response?  Your reply is very much a matter of life or death … whether at gun-point or not.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel