Religious Left Infatuation with Puerto Rican Terror

August 17, 2012 By 11 Comments

The UCC’s 2011 resolution lamented that “Mr. López Rivera has watched from behind bars as his daughter and grand-daughter have grown up without him.”  How sad.  But the resolution doesn’t mention the victims of the FALN’s bombings, whose spouses and children have endured over 35 years of anguish over their loved ones’ needless deaths thanks to the FALN’s pointless fanaticism.  The FALN’s worst atrocity was the 1975 bombing of the historic Fraunces Tavern in New York, where 4 were killed.  Another man was killed in a 1977 New York bombing.  Across several years at least 80 others were injured by FALN bombs, including a New York police officer who lost his eye in 1974.

After I first wrote about church support for the FALN terrorists in the 1990’s, the young adult son of one of their victims phoned me, distressed over continued sympathy for his father’s killers.  His children will never know their grandfather, thanks to López Rivera.  And since López Rivera has no regrets over his terrorism, his granddaughter is almost certainly better off not knowing him.

In 1995 I had exposed the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society’s effusive endorsement of the FALN prisoners in 1995, declaring they had “taken up arms against the colonizer” and were comparable to “American patriots” of the Revolution. The Methodist agency even likened them to the Apostles Peter and Paul, who also were imprisoned, noting “some of our greatest spiritual heroes spent time in jail for political reasons.

Church supporters of the terrorists sickeningly cite Bible passages about visiting prisoners.  But Scripture doesn’t call for endorsing the murderous crimes of guilty prisoners.  Truly Christian visits to prison would seek repentance.  But the Religious Left across the decades has sometimes tragically prioritized radical politics, even when violent, over reconciliation with God.

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About

Mark Tooley is President of the Institute on Religion and Democracy (www.theird.org) and author of Methodism and Politics in the Twentieth Century. Follow him on Twitter: @markdtooley.

  • http://frontpage.com richard sherman

    The FALN commuted murderer at Fraunces Tavern. Only sociopaths joined it who had the blood lust and enjoyed commuting murder.

  • Omar

    the majority of the people in Puerto Rico do not support seceding from the United States. In fact, many support becoming the 51st state of the Union. In 2008, the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico (which consists of people who identify themselves with either the Democrats or Republicans), which champions statehood, won their largest electoral victory in island history. the NPP are the real American patriots while the small separatist movement in Puerto Rico are communist traitors to the U.S and. have no seats in the island's government. Despite the word "Progressive in the NPP, the statehood party has many prominent conservatives, including the island's governor, Luis Fortuno, who cut taxes in the island by 20% in two years.

  • dale

    I didn't hear one word about Christ the saviour in their rants. Maybe that's why the UCC is losing membership so fast.

  • https://www.facebook.com/flynn.mcmahon Flynn McMahon

    We may've had a long relationship with PR but I cannot see any rational reason to accept them into the Union. Give them some (and I mean "some") legal, technical, and financial support and let them form a sovereign nation.

    • Omar

      " Give them some (and I mean "some") legal, technical, and financial support and let them form a sovereign nation".
      That's what the communist separatists and their supporters want. The majority of Puerto Ricans favor either becoming the 51st State of the USA or remaining a territory (also called Commonwealth). The separatists and communists (virtually the same entity) get less than 5% of the island electoral vote every four years. Meanwhile, the elections are always divided between the New Progressive Party (which favors statehood and consists of Republicans and Democrats) and the Popular Democratic Party (which favors the current status and consists mainly of Democrats) There are many reasons why Puerto Rico should become the 51st State in the Union. Virtually all of the Republicans and conservatives on the island support statehood for Puerto Rico. Having the island secede from the U.S. would only benefit the Castro dictatorship in Cuba and the radical left. That's another reason why the mainland needs to support statehood for PR. Remember, Puerto Rico is a part of the United States.

  • poetcomic1

    Free Puerto Rico! Free Puerto Rico from the aging 'Pol Pots' who wanted to destroy the economy, sever its 'dream relation' with the U.S. and turn it into a little Cuba. Why is this murderous narcissistic terrorist still alive at all?

    • Omar

      The "aging Pol Pots" consist of less than 5% of the island's vote. The real patriots in Puerto Rico are statehooders and members of the New Progressive Party. The statehooders are proud to be American citizens. In addition, many prominent members of the NPP like Governor Luis Fortuno support the Cuban dissident movement. Just like the separatists in PR support the Castro dictatorship in Cuba, the statehooders in Puerto Rico support the Cuban dissidents' struggle to bring democracy to Cuba.

  • Ghostwriter

    I don't believe the FALN has any real support in Puerto Rico. The only support they have is among people like the UCC. Why do they do such stupid things?

    • Omar

      You're right, Ghostwriter. The FALN (and the separatist movement in general) has virtually no support in Puerto Rico. The separatist party has no members in the island's government because the separatist movement only gets less than 5% of the vote in Puerto Rico. The other 95% of the island support remaining a part of the United States (either statehood or the current Commonwealth status). Organizations like the UCC support them and other far left groups support them because they all hate the United States and support tyranny. In reality, support for statehood (meaning joining the Union as the 51st state) in Puerto Rico has increased throughout the years, while support for secession has remained near the bottom. Of course, the UCC does not care about the statistics in the island. Instead of focusing on a totalitarian movement that seeks to impose a Stalinist dictatorship in Puerto Rico, the UCC needs to focus more on Tibet, where real oppression is going on at the hands of Communist China. But, of course, the far-left is against Tibetan independence because it is against the Communist agenda. Tibet is the land that needs independence from China.

  • Western Spirit

    My church broke off from the UCC because it has fallen into apostasy and no longer preached Christ crucified but crucified Christ by preaching the Left's doctrines instead of Christian teaching.

  • MLCross

    I don't know why they're sweating it. What's the point? Obama's going to pardon Rivera and Mumia right after the election (win or lose) in November. Why wouldn't he?