In its annual poll of public views, religious liberty law firm Becket conducted this year’s Religious Freedom Index to gauge how people feel about violence against houses of worship and the pro-life centers. In all, more than 90% said they oppose such violence.
Becket spokesman Derringer Dick tells AFN there is a “message” in the poll, which is Americans believe disagreements can be resolved in what he calls “a lawful and orderly fashion” versus resorting to violence.
“They don't like violence,” he says of the public, “and they certainly don't like it at places where people are going to worship or conduct their religious exercise.”
To date, after the Dobbs abortion ruling was leaked in May, 86 Catholic churches and 74 pregnancy centers have been attacked, The Daily Signal reported in its story about the Becket survey.
Farther down in the survey, respondents were asked if they were familiar with such attacks that have occurred all over the country.
“We only found that about 37% of the population had heard or read about pro-life groups, or pregnancy resource centers, being attacked or vandalized,” Dick says.
Just last week, a threatening letter was posted at the Newman Center, located on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Omaha, to intimidate a pro-life group that was gathering for a training workshop.
The letter threatened to shoot the activists and claimed it was from Jane’s Revenge, a shadowy group that has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks across the country.
To date, the FBI has yet to announce any arrests despite many of the attacks meeting law enforcement’s legal definition of domestic terrorism.
