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FIRST ON FOX: Michigan Rep. Lisa McClain and 19 of her fellow Republican lawmakers sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding he and the Department of Justice (DOJ) “bring justice” for the attacks on Catholic churches in America.
McClain led several of her House GOP colleagues in a letter demanding Garland and his department investigate the “anti-Catholic” attacks on churches taking place across the US.
“Catholicism is under violent attack in this country, and the spineless Department of Justice refuses to do anything about it,” McClain told Fox News Digital. “They are more concerned with weaponizing the department against conservatives, the former president, and parents who dare to speak out at school board meetings.”
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Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) led the letter with several of her colleagues to Attorney General Merrick Garland regarding the attacks on Catholic churches across America. (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“Instead of playing politics, the DOJ needs to do their job and defend the constitutional rights of Americans to freely and safely practice their religion,” the Michigan Republican continued. “Enough is enough, targeted crimes cannot go unanswered.”
“AG Garland’s two-tiered system of justice applies to conservative voters and organizations too,” Republican Study Committee (RSC) chairman Jim Banks of Indiana told Fox News Digital. “This administration has funded atheist groups abroad, but refuses to protect religious groups from political violence at home.”
Banks also lauded McClain “for standing for religious freedom and calling attention to the Biden administration’s refusal to protect religious American’s first-amendment rights.”
The GOP letter first obtained by Fox News Digital wrote that religious freedom “is under attack in the United States” pointing to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ estimate of “at least one hundred sixty hate crimes against the Catholic Church across thirty-seven states.”
“As a result, millions of Christians are under assault for merely exercising their constitutional right to freely practice their religion,” the lawmakers wrote.
Representative Jim Banks, R-Ind., joined McClain on the letter to Garland. ((Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images))
The lawmakers wrote that America’s “basic tenet” of religious freedom “is being debased” in the wake of the attacks and laid out some of the attacks levied against American churches.
“Just this year, the altar at St. Augustine Catholic Church in Brooklyn, New York was destroyed,” the lawmakers wrote. “Vandals stole the church’s historic tabernacle that held the Eucharist, the body of Christ in the Catholic faith, before proceeding to wantonly decapitate the statues of angels and desecrate the Eucharist on the altar.”
“Other incidents of anti-Catholic violence include arson, destruction of Church property, and the defacing of gravestones with swastikas and anti-Catholic slurs,” they continued. “As the elected U.S. Representative of many Christians, we are forced to wonder if your Department of Justice will ever address the over one hundred crimes against Christian holy sites in America?”
The lawmakers excoriated Garland — who serves under a Catholic president — for his department persecuting “Americans for speaking out at school board meetings and harassed peaceful protesters by investigating them for domestic terrorism.”
The Republicans also pointed out that at “the same time, the DOJ ignored blatant acts of violence committed by groups such as Antifa, who targeted and destroyed the property of small businesses and government facilities in Portland, Seattle and beyond.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland serves under a Catholic president. (Getty Images)
“Americans are watching in horror as your DOJ fails to respond to the violence threatening religious freedom across the country and wondering why certain criminals seem to always avoid your interest,” they wrote.
“The principle of religious freedom is woven into the fabric of what makes America great. No American should live in fear of practicing their religion and no religion should be subject to attack in this land of the free. Religious freedom is not only a Constitutional right but a human right, too. We are calling on you and your department to uphold your oaths to the Constitution and bring justice to the anti-Catholic criminals who are running rampant across America.”
The lawmakers asked Garland if the DOJ will “act against anti-Catholic crimes and defend the constitutional rights of Catholic Americans” and what the department’s specific plans are “to defend Christians from targeted crime.”
The letter comes after several Catholic and other Christian churches were targeted in violent attacks following the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
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Several of McClain’s and Banks’ GOP colleagues joined them on the letter, including Reps. Andrew Gabarino of New York, Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa, and Barry Moore of Alabama.
The DOJ did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.