Conservatives Declare Faith ‘Under Attack’ After Atlantic Op-Eds on ‘Extremist’ Rosary and Militant Pro-Abortion Group

Zachary LeemanAug 15th, 2022, 11:36 am
 

A pair of pieces from The Atlantic are stirring up controversy with conservatives, with some declaring that faith is “under attack.”

A Sunday op-ed by Daniel Panneton asserted that rosaries are being “co-opted” by “extremist gun culture.” The original title for the post was “How the Rosary Became an Extremist Symbol,” though that was later changed to “How Extremist Gun Culture Is Trying to Co-Opt the Rosary.” A graphic showing a rosary being made by bullet holes also appears to have been removed from the piece.

“On this extremist fringe, rosary beads have been woven into a conspiratorial politics and absolutist gun culture. These armed radical traditionalists have taken up a spiritual notion that the rosary can be a weapon in the fight against evil and turned it into something dangerously literal,” Panneton wrote.

The op-ed came on the heels of a separate piece that kicked up backlash, which called the pro-abortion group Jane’s Revenge the “right’s new bogeyman.” The story by Kaitlyn Tiffany acknowledged the group has taken credit for vandalism and property destruction in multiple cities — including the firebombing of a “Christian fundamentalist group” in Wisconsin — but argued the group has become a possibly-overblown “bogeyman” for right-wing media.

“What the hell happened to The Atlantic? It’s always been on the left, but suddenly the rosary is an extremist symbol, and abortion activists burning down pro-life pregnancy centers really is no big deal,” conservative commentator Erick Erickson tweeted.

In a Monday appearance on Fox & Friends, Rachel Campos-Duffy said faith is “under attack” and Christians need to “fight back” instead of laughing at the “silliness of this.”

“This seems comical, but we’re seeing more and more articles trying to associate people who are faithful, especially those who adhere to more orthodox or traditional interpretations of faith, as somehow being right-wing extremists, white nationalists, fringe. And I think we ought to be very careful of that,” she said.

Other conservatives and journalists weighed in on Twitter:

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Zachary Leeman

Zachary Leeman covered pop culture and politics at outlets such as Breitbart, LifeZette, BizPac Review, HollywoodinToto, and others. He is the author of the novel Nigh. He joined Mediaite in 2022.