Hate-Mongers should be Shot, shouldn’t They?

A man posing as an intern shot the guard, Leo Johnson, at the Family Research Council (FRC), a Christian group promoting pro-life and traditional marriage, located in Washington DC. According to LifeSiteNews.com:

• The suspect, a 28-year-old male from Virginia named Floyd Lee Corkins II, said, “Don’t shoot me, it was not about you, it was what this place stands for.” AP later confirmed that Corkins is a liberal activist who volunteers with a left-wing group in the D.C. area.

• “The FBI said Corkins had 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches, a Sig Sauer 9mm pistol, two additional magazines loaded with ammunition and an additional box of 50 rounds of ammunition when he came into the building.”

Corkins evidently intended to kill many. Boston.com adds:

• Corkins who had been volunteering recently at a community center for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, made a negative comment about the organization’s activity before the shooting.

This shooting should not be regarded as simply the work of one man. The media has fanned the flames of hatred by insisting that the FRC and other groups like it are “hate organizations.” About three hours about the FRC shooting the Huffington Press referred to the “Family Research Council, which the Southern Poverty Law Center deems a hate group.” 

Why a “hate group?” Simply because the FRC opposes gay marriage! Sadly, the mainstream media is all too happy to support this demeaning characterization. One way that media does this is through unbalanced reporting. When a gay is victimized, the media gives the story full coverage. However, when the tables are reversed – and they often are – the media is relatively silent. NewsBusters reports that:

• ABC was the only broadcast network that offered a full story on the FRC office shooting on Wednesday night. They led with the story and gave it two and a half minutes. None of the network newscasts reported the breaking detail that shooter Floyd Corkins volunteered for six months at the D.C. Center for the LGBT Community, adding depth to his political motivation.

What is the effect of this unbalanced reporting? Christians are unfairly seen as victimizers, “bigots,” and “hate mongers.” This fuels hatred and the faulty notion that the church is depriving gays of their basic “human rights.”

It is these unbalanced and misleading characterizations that have placed a gun in the hands the Floyd Lee Corkins and have told them that they are performing a righteous service.

According to LifeSiteNews,

• His parents told the FBI that Corkins “has strong opinions with respect to those he believes do not treat homosexuals in a fair manner.”

From where did Corkins get this notion that those who favor traditional marriage “do not treat homosexuals in a fair manner?” We are against all sexual intercourse outside of marriage, not just homosexual sex. We are also against any marriage that is not between a single man and woman. Does this make us “hate-mongers?” Should we therefore be fair game for the pedophile, the adulterer, the bigamist, or the polygamist, or anyone else who objects that we don’t approve of their behavior?

Are we “hate-mongers” because we don’t approve of lying, cheating and stealing? Should we be shot-up because we would vote for laws against libel, robbery and perjury, or are we only despicable because we oppose gay marriage?

Today, many in the media construe their roles as “social activists” and not “truth activists.” If there is anything to be an activist for, it is for the truth. If there is any flagpole around which we can all rally, it is the truth. If there is any basis for unity, it is around the truth. If there is anything that can restore the nation’s faith in the media and the government, it is a zeal for the truth. Unless the media can regain its proper vision, it will continue to loose respect and will gain as an agent of division.