Chilling. That seems the only word for the Democratic Party’s visceral reaction to a leaked Supreme Court decision that would restore abortion regulation to the States. Likely reversal of Roe v. Wade, restoring States’ rights to pre-1973, has triggered direct threats of mass violence. Chilling.
Democrat activists, knowing intimidation of or harm done to just one U.S. Supreme Court justice would change abortion calculus – and hundreds of decisions – threatened to confront justices at their homes.
While this is illegal and should immediately have produced a warning from the U.S. Department of Justice, the White House, and anyone in the Democrat Party who cares about the rule of law, America experienced the opposite: The Biden White House implicitly gave the “go” to this illegality.
Next, on Mother’s Day – of all days, given abortion ending the miracle of motherhood – a group called
“Ruth Sent Us” (a reference to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg) threatened to overrun churches across the country, nominally Catholic Churches, but likely any church opposing abortion.
Ironically, the late justice was Jewish and a close friend of Catholic Justice Antonin Scalia. They would both be appalled. To threaten a house of faith is an abomination.
That offense then deepened, as the threat moved to doing violence within churches, including “burning the eucharist,” that is seeking to intentionally destroy the sacrament of Holy Communion. Where are the Democrats?
Where are Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Jewish, or Muslim Democrats – who know such threats of egregious violence are wrong? Where are those who believe – even atheists – in the First Amendment?
As history is our teacher, this turn of events is not just wrong and repulsive to democracy – but ominous. Not only did a Supreme Court opinion get stolen and released, impairing the Court’s integrity, judicial independence, and the rule of law, but that leak – like threatened violence – was not condemned.
As the draft opinion was objectionable to leading Democrats, the next step was to ramp up threats that began in late 2021. After the violent riots of 2020, which sought to disparage, demoralize, and defund law enforcement, Democrat Senators began threatening the Supreme Court over Roe.
Specifically, Democrat Senator from NH Jeanne Shaheen threatened Roe’s reversal would trigger a “revolution,” while Democrat Majority Leader Chuck Schumer threatened justices who voted to overturn Roe would “pay.” Exactly what kind of “revolution,” and how would they “pay?”
Now, we begin to see what was being planned, as violence is now a Democrat tool-of-choice. Intimidation by overt and insinuated threats, illegal protests at private residences (after Supreme Court families were doxed, White House silent on the illegality), elevated concerns over the safety of justices, deep concerns in US churches that they will be overrun (leading to ramped up security) are all real.
What does this remind you of? Perhaps the Soviet Union? Communist Chinese attacks on religion, churches, and those who oppose leftist violence? When one says “revolution,” that word has real meaning, even if not accompanied by modifiers like Bolshevik, Maoist, Marxist, or French.
French? Yes, how about we start there. What does a revolution – even a non-Communist one – look like? It is violent, intentionally, disruptively, and irreversibly violent. And what happens when churches – and those with strong moral beliefs, such as opposing abortion – are the object of the revolution?
Bad things. Examples are legion. While the American Revolution opposed the immorality of tyranny, concentrated government, over-taxation, and suppression of liberty – they drew strength from faith – even though it was violent. The atheistic Communist Revolutions in the Soviet Union and China killed tens of millions.
The French Revolution was like this pro-abortion, anti-state’s rights violence. It was directed at churches, and those of faith, anti-religious, like the communist Soviet Revolution also was – horrifically violent.
When churches are targeted by leftist violence, as in the French Revolution, things often go from bad to worse quickly – unless responsible, moral, rule-of-law leaders step up and firmly stop the violence. In the French Revolution, distant but instructive for venom toward churches and faith, things got dark.
By way of example, thousands of clergy members were killed, and hundreds of churches were defaced, destroyed, and left in ruins. Holy and valuable religious symbols taken, church holidays, and displays of the cross banned. Things moved fast; the September 1792 massacres killed hundreds of priests over two days.
Could such a thing happen here? Let us hope not, as that was two-and-a-quarter centuries ago, and America still has funded police, people who respect the First Amendment protections for religion and the rule of law.
But make no mistake, those who boldly advance chaos, anarchy, and anti-religious leftism do not respect your faith, churches, or the conviction of many, including Supreme Court justices, that abortion is wrong and, for starters, not protected by the Constitution. Anti-faith violence is ominous and chilling.