On Easter Sunday, explosions rocked Sri Lanka\u2019s churches and hotels as Muslim terrorists executed a carefully coordinated and devastating attack against their Christian neighbors. The death toll from the terrorist attack has soared past 200 and over 450 people were injured. The victims were almost entirely Christian and of a mix of nationalities. The majority of the victims were Sri Lankan natives, but foreigners from at least five countries were also killed in the vicious attack.<\/p>\n
The Islamic terrorists unleashed six nearly simultaneous blasts on the holiest day of the Christian calendar and two more several hours later. They targeted churches and hotels that catered to foreigners. The deadliest blast occurred at St. Sebastian\u2019s Church in Negombo, and all were aimed at \u201cinnocent people gathering in a place of worship or enjoying a holiday meal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given the choice to attack Christian churches on the morning of Easter Sunday, there is no doubt that the terrorists meant to kill Christians. Some on the Left, however, have refused to recognize this basic fact. Rather than condemning an attack on Christians in the same way they condemned the New Zealand mosque shootings, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both carefully avoided using the word \u201cChristian\u201d or \u201cterrorist\u201d in their condemnations. Clinton even managed to dodge mentioning the fact that the attack occurred on Easter. Both Obama and Clinton claimed that those killed were \u201cEaster worshippers.\u201d Easter, however, is the name of a Christian holiday and not something to be worshipped in and of itself. It is also the name of a pagan goddess. Suggestions that the victims were worshipping a pagan goddess or man-made holiday are equally offensive to the Christians who were murdered for daring to celebrate a holy day with peaceful prayer. To make matters worse, Clinton not only avoided mentioning that the targets of the terrorist attack were Christians, she ignored the fact that the bombings occurred on Easter Sunday. Instead, she emphasized that it was a \u201choly weekend for many faiths.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is nothing wrong with remembering that Easter and Passover overlap, but the attack was clearly aimed at Christians. All three churches were openly Christian and had a good chance of being packed on Easter Sunday when the terrorists attacked. This attack was obviously targeting Christians. Despite this, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren and Julian Castro all carefully avoided using the word \u201cChristian\u201d to describe the victims. Of the four, Warren was the only one to label the bombings a terrorist attack. She did, however, stop short of noting that the perpetrators were Muslim terrorists.<\/p>\n
Some people scoff when Christians claim that they are being persecuted both abroad and in the United States, but the fact that some of the leaders of the Left could not even find the common decency to correctly identify the victims\u2019 religion gives credence to such claims. After all, it is far harder to find sympathy or empathy for an amorphous group like \u201cEaster worshippers\u201d than it is to express solidarity with a visible community like \u201cChristians.\u201d<\/p>\n