Multiple People Shot at Church in Michigan; Suspect is Dead

The doors of a church are meant to be a threshold to a sanctuary, a sacred space where the conflicts of the world are left outside. On Sunday morning, in a quiet suburb of Michigan, that threshold was violently breached by a gunman, turning a house of worship into a scene of carnage.

This is not just another tragic mass shooting. It is a direct and profane assault on the very first promise of our Bill of Rights. The attack on a church, which the President has already described as another “targeted attack on Christians,” is a profound test of our nation’s commitment to its most foundational liberty: the freedom of religion.

What We Know So Far

The details are still emerging from a chaotic scene. A gunman, identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, reportedly opened fire at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan, a suburb of Flint.

Multiple people have been shot, and early reports suggest a horrific toll. The suspect is confirmed to be dead at the scene, reportedly from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The FBI has arrived and, according to a social media post from President Trump, will be leading the federal investigation.

Why an Attack on a Church is a Constitutional Crisis

An attack on any group of innocent citizens is a tragedy. An attack on citizens who have gathered for the express purpose of exercising their faith is a constitutional crisis. It is a direct assault on the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”

This clause is the bedrock of religious liberty in America. It is a sacred promise that the government will not interfere with the practice of one’s faith. But it also carries with it an implicit, and equally important, promise: that the government has a solemn duty to protect the spaces where that faith is practiced.

The State’s Highest Duty: To Protect a Sacred Right

This brings us to one of the most fundamental duties of a constitutional government, as laid out in the Preamble: to “insure domestic Tranquility.” The government’s most basic and essential function is to provide a safe and orderly society where citizens can exercise their rights without fear of violence.

When a gunman can walk into a church, a synagogue, or a mosque and open fire, that is a catastrophic failure of the state to fulfill this primary duty. The freedom to worship is meaningless without the freedom to worship safely.

The tragic irony is that this attack comes at a time of intense national debate over the role of faith in our public life. As our politics become more polarized, the language used to describe our fellow citizens who hold different beliefs has become increasingly hostile. While the specific motive of this shooter is not yet known, the act itself is a physical manifestation of the kind of intolerance that our Constitution was designed to guard against.

The attack in Michigan is a brutal and heartbreaking reminder that the First Amendment is not self-enforcing. It is a promise that must be protected, a sanctuary that must be guarded. The greatest test of our republic is not just whether we can tolerate our differences, but whether we can protect our citizens from being murdered for them.