Actions of hate not acceptable in our America

Synagogue shooting raises familiar questions once again

Last weekend, America marked another dark milestone. Saturday’s shooting rampage at a Jewish synagogue was the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history, the Associated Press reports.

Eleven people were killed and six others were wounded during the attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue near downtown Pittsburgh. The alleged gunman, Robert Gregory Bowers, 46, told police, “I just want to kill Jews,” and “All these Jews need to die.”

Once again, it’s almost impossible to understand how someone could utter those words, let alone enter a house of worship with the intent to do harm. This isn’t the first religious sanctuary to be violated.

The question is, how does it become the last?

Every time there is a mass shooting, one is left with the same questions. Why does this keep happening? What in our culture is so incredibly fractured to make this crime seem like a reasonable course of action to someone? Shootings at a school and a church share something in common — an attack on innocent, unsuspecting victims.

Something is clearly wrong. Over and over again, horrific crimes paint a dark portrait of our nation.

The Saturday attack isn’t an isolated incident. The AP reports that while Jews make up only about 2 percent of the U.S. population, according to “annual FBI data, they repeatedly account for more than half of the Americans targeted by hate crimes committed due to religious bias.”

Our nation is built on the principle of religious tolerance, yet over and over again, attacks on religious institutions fly in the face of that principle.

If this attack wasn’t a wake-up call for America, then what will be? What will it take to get Americans to fight for a return to civility? It’s time that we as a nation stand together, because ultimately, actions of hate cannot be our America.