After years of virtually ignoring attacks on churches, synagogues, and pro-life pregnancy centers, the DOJ has finally found a case worth prosecuting—a Molotov cocktail attack on a so-called “church” preparing to host a drag queen story hour.
On Saturday, March 25, 2023, the Community Church of Chesterland (“CCC”), located at 11984 Caves Road, Chesterland, Ohio, reported to Chester Township Police that the church had been damaged by what appeared to be Molotov cocktails during the night. During the same time, a sign on CCC’s property was damaged. CCC believes the acts were perpetrated in response to the church’s planned hosting of two drag show events on April 1, 2023. Open source searches revealed that individuals plan to be present and armed en masse at the events to protest. Representatives of CCC reported that they received hate mail and messages containing non-specific threats of protest and violence against the drag events. Images of the damage are shown below.
Before we continue, let me make a couple of things abundantly clear. First, I don’t condone violence from the left or right. At all. The attack on CCC was terrorism and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Protest peacefully all you want, but once you cross the line into violence, you deserve what you get and I have no sympathy for you.
Second, the CCC, affiliated with the United Church of Christ, is not a Christian church in any meaningful sense of the word. From a Q&A section of their website:
Are your services a Christian service?
While our church is aligned with the United Church of Christ denomination, we welcome people of all beliefs and traditions. Our worship services include traditions and practices you might not find in other churches, including dance, poetry, Broadway songs, and more. Christian hymns and spirituals are sung alongside blues, country, global, and pop music.
The website is littered with rainbow flags, language about inclusive worship and its commitment to social justice, and vague references to spirituality. It eschews the tenets of biblical Christianity in favor of “personal expression” and feelings.
Now that we’ve cleared that up, here’s some background on the story:
The CCC announced that it planned to hold two drag shows on April 1 in Chesterland, Ohio. Chesterland is located in Geauga County, home to the fourth-largest Amish community in the world. Those promoting the drag event no doubt enjoyed the prospect of disrupting the social norms of the conservative region.
According to the complaint, Aimenn D. Penny, 20, tried to burn down the church on March 25 using Molotov cocktails and an accelerant. The attack resulted in minor damage to the door of CCC and its sign. Penny admitted he committed the crime:
PENNY admitted to building the Molotov cocktails and deploying them at CCC with the intent to burn the structure. PENNY stated that he was trying to protect children and stop the drag show event. PENNY described using bottles from his bedroom and detailed the ingredients and steps he used to build and use the devices. PENNY stated that night he became more and more angry after watching internet videos of news feeds and drag shows in France and decided to attack the church. PENNY stated that he would have felt better if the Molotov cocktails were more effective and burned the entire church to the ground. PENNY stated that the items that he used that night were still located inside of his vehicle.
Penny, who allegedly has ties to a neo-Nazi group, faces 5-20 years in prison for “malicious use of explosive materials charge and… possession of a destructive device charge.” Again: this guy is a terrorist and a racist (aren’t they all?) and deserves no sympathy.
The show went on as planned, with the drag performers singing a version of “Simon Says” with children in the audience. “Simon says, touch your head.” “Simon says, touch your shoulders.” “Simon says, touch my genitals.” Okay, they didn’t go that far, but a bunch of perverts conditioning young children to touch their bodies at their command is grooming, plain and simple. Here’s the video of the performance. The “Simon Says” portion begins at 13:30.
Watch at the 14:30 mark to see the nitwit adults stomping their feet and clapping along with the groomers. It’s really quite pathetic.
Now, getting back to the DOJ, which indignantly proclaimed on its website:
“Violence and destruction are never an acceptable way to express a disagreement with a particular viewpoint,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle M. Baeppler for the Northern District of Ohio. “While, as Americans, we enjoy the right to disagree, doing so peacefully is the only appropriate option. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio remains committed to protecting the rights of all citizens to express their viewpoints peacefully.”
Well, good for them. It’s about freaking time. Meanwhile, the DOJ has ignored violence against churches and pro-life pregnancy centers in the wake of the leak of the Dobbs decision to send the abortion issue back to the states. The federal agency is being sued by The Heritage Foundation, Heritage Action for America, and Advancing American Freedom for failing to investigate the attacks properly.
According to the plantiffs’ filing:
In the past several years, this Country has seen a dramatic increase in violence against religious and pro-life organizations. But while the Department of Justice has aggressively enforced federal criminal laws to protect “pro-choice” and other organizations espousing the Administration’s favored political or policy views, all publicly available evidence indicates that the Department’s response to this increased violence against religious and pro-life organizations has been anemic at best. Indeed, the House of Representatives recently adopted H. Con. Res. 3, which states, “the Biden Administration has failed to take action to respond to the radical attacks on pro-life facilities, groups, and churches, or to protect the rights of these organizations.” Plaintiffs’ FOIA Request seeks to shed light on this apparent viewpoint based disparate treatment.
The Biden administration laughs and winks at violence against (real) Christian churches and nonprofits but suddenly has its knickers in a twist when a heretical left-wing church is attacked.
It should be noted that Merrick Garland’s DOJ has not classified last week’s massacre of children at a Nashville, Tenn., Christian school as a hate crime. “As of now, motive hasn’t been identified,” Garland said in a briefing last week.
Also note: As we speak, the social-media censors are hard at work trying to scrub video of the drag performance from the internet, so if the video above is disabled by the time you read this article, you’ll know why.
Unequal treatment under the law is now the law of the land. Joe Biden and Merrick Garland are dispensing their radical vision of justice on Americans who refuse to toe the George Soros party line—on churches, on former President Trump, and maybe on you one day soon. Now, more than ever, PJ Media needs your help to expose the Left’s wicked machinations. They’re thumbing their noses at God, at the Constitution, and at you, dear reader. We’d be mighty grateful if you could pitch in a buck or two a month to help us fight the radicals who think they know what’s best for you and your family. Use the promo code SAVEAMERICA for a 40% discount on your PJ Media VIP membership. Sign up here.
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