This we now know about yesterday’s horrific shooting at a black church in South Carolina that claimed nine lives: the alleged terrorist is 21-year-old Dylann Roof, pictured above, who has been described as a “white supremacist”.
But “Fox & Friends” immediately jumped on the “persecuted Christians” bandwagon, and attempted to portray the atrocity at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston as an attack on Christianity, rather than a racially-motivated hate crime.
“Fox & Friends” co-host Steve Doocy said this morning it was “extraordinary” that Police Chief Gregory Mullen referred to the massacre as a “hate crime”.
The segment began with Bishop E W Jackson, the senior pastor at Hope Christian Church, opining that he was concerned that this wasn’t a racially motivated crime, but a religiously motivated one.
There does seem to be a rising hostility against Christians in this country because of our biblical views. I would urge pastors in these churches to prepare to defend themselves. It’s sad, but I think that we have to arm ourselves.
Doocy said that Bishop Jackson made “a great point about the hostility towards Christians”, and appeared to agree that the attack had a religious rather than a racial motivation.
But Roof, according to this report, told the victims:
I have to do it… You rape our women and you’re taking over our country, and you have to go.
Roof’s uncle, Carson Cowles, said that the suspect’s father had recently given him a .45-calibre handgun for his birthday.
Richard Cohen, president of Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama, says Roof wasn’t known to his organisation, and it is unclear whether he is connected to any of the 16 white supremacist organisations SPLC has identified as operating in South Carolina.
But Cohen says Roof appears to be a “disaffected white supremacist” based on his Facebook page.
Court records in South Carolina show that Roof was facing a drug charge and had previously been arrested for trespassing.