Christians to Obama: Our Lives Matter, Too

First hand accounts, discussing the October 1 shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, reveal that the shooter asked if students were Christians, and if they replied yes in a positive way, they were shot in the head.

The Roseburg Beacon News reported receiving this text from a female student who was in the classroom during the shooting: “The shooter was lining people up and asking if they were Christians,” the message read. “If they said yes, then they were shot in the head. If they said no or didn’t answer, they were shot in the leg.”

When a person is singled out for execution because of their faith, gender, or beliefs, it is the responsibility of our political leaders to publicly condemn that tragic form of violence in the clearest and strongest way possible.

The Christian community is troubled that President Obama has not addressed this targeting of Christians as of yet and wonders out loud what the response of the White House would have been if that same question were asked of gays or Muslims.

Activists will lay “I Am Christian” signs outside of the White House at 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 7.

“Any person singled out to be executed because of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation or ANY other factor should be unequivocally condemned by our leaders and institutions. That is why it is so troubling that President Obama and the establishment press have been virtually silent on Christians being singled out for execution during the mass shooting in Oregon.

“It is difficult to believe that several days after the shooting, with the facts fully known, the White House has not addressed and condemned this targeting of Christians for execution because of their faith,” said Rev. Patrick Mahoney, Pastor of Church on the Hill and Director of Church on Hill in Washington, D.C.

“The Christian community is left to wonder what the response of President Obama would have been if a person had been asked if they were gay or Muslim and then shot in the head.  Our sense is, if President Obama could call Michael Sam and Jason Collins and publicly congratulate them for being openly gay and professional athletes then he should at least publicly condemn the violent targeting of Christians for execution,” Mahoney said.