Right after the Orlando shooting some commentators put some of the blame on conservative Christians. I chose not to comment on that error at the time because I thought of it as part of the grieving process. After a tragedy people often have irrational, emotional ideas. It is more compassionate not to immediately judge the expression of those ideas.

But the more I think about it the more I am convinced that I was mistaken. This was no mere irrational lashing out at elements of the crime, be it Muslims or guns; but rather an ill-conceived accusation aimed at a group that had nothing to do with the crime. And ill-conceived ideas, even after a tragedy, often can turn into troublesome social policies if they are not confronted.

Importantly, these accusations did not come from marginalized outlier group members. It is too easy to find someone with a crazy idea to represent a group we do not like. For example, some used the preaching of a crazy pastor who celebrated the Orlando shootings to make all Christians look crazy. Others took the statements of a nutty feminist activist, who blamed the alligator killing a 2 year old on white privilege, and used those statements to malign feminist activists generally. Using the crazy pastor and the nutty feminist as “poster children” for their respective groups is clearly unfair.

Likewise it would be unfair for me to assert on the basis of a few fringe progressives that all, or even a majority, of cultural progressives accept the narrative that Christians played a culpable role in the Orlando shootings. However, the New York Times, ACLU lawyers and a CNN commentator are not marginalized figures.

The assertion that Christians are somehow responsible for this terrorist event is so silly that in a reasonable world nobody would have to spend time rebutting it, although if there is such a need, Jonah Goldberg, David French and Michael Brown have done a more than adequate job. I will not repeat their work here. However, I will consider the implications of such attacks in light of the increasing Christianophobia in our society.

When I did research on cultural progressive activists I found that they perceive conservative Christians as a threat to a modern secular society. They see themselves in a culture war, which if they lose will lead to America becoming a theocracy. It is an irrational belief, but it is one that many cultural progressives truly accept, and they act on that belief. Due to this illogical fear they prioritize keeping conservative Christians out of the public sphere. As long as Christians stay in their homes and churches, cultural progressives will tolerate them. But when Christians want to participate with everyone else in shaping social and political life, then many of my respondents become quite fearful of that.

This is the context in which we can understand the scapegoating occurring after Orlando. It provided these cultural progressives with another opportunity to marginalize conservative Christians and placate their own fears. If they can tie Christianity to an episode as violent as that one, they can justify their efforts to scrub Christian influence from our society.

When someone tries to ostracize others to the point where they are not able to speak their social desires, what that someone is really trying to do is to make those others invisible. He is trying to take away their voice, their ability to play a meaningful role in our society. He is basically saying that members of that group are not wanted in society. Blaming Christians for this shooting, when clearly Christians are not responsible, is just another way to say, “We do not want conservative Christians in our society.” Or perhaps they want those Christians seen but not heard — kind of like children (and some of my respondents see Christians as children).

There is much talk among progressives about cultural tolerance and acceptance. It’s all vapid, in view of the desire many of them have to eliminate Christian influence from our culture. Not everyone who displays a “Coexist” bumper sticker really means it. Christians need to be aware of the degree to which some cultural progressives reject Christianity, and be ready to adjust to a society that has become more Christianophobic.

I really did not want to write this piece. I would rather we could simply mourn as a nation and resolve to find real solutions for violence like Orlando. False accusations against Christians distract us from the real causes of the Orlando murders. Unfortunately for some cultural progressives, it’s more important to express their anti-Christian hatred than it is to locate real solutions.