Evangelical leaders are blaming
liberals, gays and the media for Friday's mass shooting at an Aurora,
Colorado movie theater.
Twenty-four-year-old James Eagan Holmes
allegedly shot into the audience during the midnight showing of The
Dark Knight Rises, killing 12 people and injuring 58 others.
On the American Family Association
(AFA) radio show AFA Today, Fred Jackson and co-host Teddy
James blamed the shootings on the lack of prayer in public schools
and the nation's increasing support for gay rights.
“I think the sources of this is
multifaceted but you can put it all, I think, under the heading of
rebellion to God, a rejection of the God of the Bible. ... We've been
dealing Teddy and I know the AFA Journal has been dealing with
denominations that no longer believe in the God of the Bible, they no
longer believe that Jesus is the only way of salvation, they teach
that God is OK with homosexuality, this is just increasing more and
more. It is mankind shaking its fist at the authority of God,”
Jackson
said.
Jackson went on to blame Hollywood and
the media's “liberal bias” for the massacre.
Jerry Newcombe of Truth in Action said
that the tragedy happened because Americans have lost their fear of
hell.
“I can't help but feel that to some
extent, we're reaping what we've been sowing as a society,” he
wrote in an op-ed published on OneNewsNow.com.
“We said to God, 'Get out of the public arena.' Lawsuit after
lawsuit, often by misguided 'civil libertarians,' have chased away
any fear of God in the land – at least in the hearts of millions.”
On AFA radio, Newcombe said that only
the Christian victims are going to heaven.
“If a Christian dies early, if a
Christian dies young, it seems tragic, but really it is not tragic
because they are going to a wonderful place,” he said. “On the
other hand … If they knowingly rejected Jesus Christ, then,
basically, they are going to a terrible place.”