Contemporary Civil Crucifixions?

As the Christian faithful commemorate the Triduum, when their blameless Lord was persecuted and crucified for their sins, we can contemplate contemporary crucifixions.

Sadly, we live in a world in which ISIS Islamists actually crucify and martyr "Nazarenes" for their faith.  Yet we do not have to look abroad to see contemporary civil crucifixions.

Consider how masses have been riled up and incited to violence over lies emanating from the chief priest of liberal secular humanism in social justice circles and the media. Ferguson, Missouri brought forth the meme "Hands Up, Don't Shoot", which inspired rioting both in the Show Me State as well as civil intimidation in Brooklyn.  Yet the Ferguson Grand Jury Decision showed that the "Hands Up Don't Shoot" manta was  all based on lies.

Then there was the Rolling Stone gang rape story which was meant to peddle the war on women wedge issue especially college fraternities.  Once again a fabrications yet the fraternity at the University of Virginia was forced to close until police reports showed that the accusation was based on a tissue of lies.

Lately, the focus has been on Indiana, as the Hoosier State passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.  Progressives painted a rainbow smear claiming that RFRA would allow businesses to discriminate against homosexual customers.  In reality, Indiana's  RFRA was modeled after a 1993 Federal Law (which President Bill Clinton signed)  and 19 other states (including Illinois which State Senator Barack Obama voted for), with updates to reflect the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby ruling.

Rather than being a weapon for business owners to pursue discrimination, RFRA is a shield which allows those with a strongly held religious belief to simply have their day in court.  The masses where whipped up into a frenzy under the rainbow banner to stop bigotry.

One enterprising jo-whore-nalist from ABC 57 in South Bend, sought out a pizzaria in Elkhorn, Indiana supposedly to get a small town perspective on the Hoosier RFRA law. Reporter Alyssa Marino  "randomly" chose Memories Pizza, which just so happened to be a Christian establishment. They  entertained a hypothetical of catering a same-sex wedding and concluded that participating in that ceremony would be against their religious beliefs.

This naive admission set off a firestorm of protest against the small town pizza parlor.  Rush Limbaugh suspects this was a set up for a Christian business and was being magnified by a small group of progressive activists who spin a cyber chimera of being an internet army. How else could a UHF TV station in South Bend generate thousands of social media protests in less than ten minutes?  

The hype over Memories Pizza got so severe that a high school teacher tweeted seeking comrades to help burn the place down. Memories Pizza was forced to close with all of the crank calls and calls to violence

   

After her suspension is lifted, she should stick to instructing girls' golf rather than teaching hatred and inciting violence on the internet.

Fortunately, like the miracle of the resurrection after the public crucifixion, there is a happy ending for Memories Pizza.  BlazeTV personal Dana Loesch organized a crowdfunding effort to help the O'Connor family with their Memories Pizza business.  In a couple of days, 30,000 people contributed over $850,000. This will allow Memories Pizza to weather the RFRA firestorm and to expand.  

Yet progressives still sought to punish Memories Pizza.  Some conspiracy minded liberals implied that the O'Connors intentionally created the media frenzy for online donations.  These are the same type of people who obsess over Loose Change  Another internet activist, who co-incidentally is a social media employee of WTVR-TV CBS6 in Richmond, Virginia, implied that the crowdfunding was fraudulent to discourage contributions.  

While during Holy Week it is facile to focus on crowds being whipped into a frenzy to be the cat's paw for leaders.  But it is also worth considering why the Romans resorted to crucifixions in their empire.  These brutal crucifixions served as examples not to challenge the orthodoxy of the powers that be. 

Crucifixion (even the civil kind)?  No, I would rather choose religious freedom. 

But like Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979), it is best to "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life".

H/T: A.F. Branco