The Rt. Rev. Kirk Smith, Bishop of Arizona, wrote Jan. 10 that Christians \u201ccan go behind the rhetoric of blame and name the root cause of acts of violence like these \u201d\u201d fear. Whether the young man was rational or not, he certainly was influenced by the escalating violent language which seems to characterize our political discourse these days, when anyone who disagrees with you is labeled as an \u201d\u02dcenemy\u2019 or as \u201d\u02dcevil.\u2019\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Bishop Smith added: \u201cWe fear others when we are afraid. There has to be someone or some group to blame for our anxiety about our economy, our social breakdown, our drug culture and our institutional collapse. And so we find a scapegoat \u201d\u201d our problems are all the fault of \u201d\u02dcliberals\u2019 or \u201d\u02dctea-party members\u2019 or \u201d\u02dcillegals.\u2019\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
The Rt. Rev. Dan Thomas Edwards, Bishop of Nevada, wrote that the weekend\u2019s violence reflects wider societal problems.<\/p>\n