Fred Clark apologizes, as a white male Baptist, for an attempted act of domestic terrorism by a white, male Baptist.
As a white male Baptist, it is my duty today to denounce the violence perpetrated by Patrick Gray Sharp, 29, who yesterday attacked the police headquarters in McKinney, Texas, in a heavily armed but ineffectual assault involving a high-powered rifle, road flares, “gasoline and ammonium nitrate fertilizer.”
I understand that this denunciation must be swift and unambiguous and that, in the absence of such denunciations made by and on behalf of every and all white male Baptists, others are entitled to assume that every white male Baptist is fully in agreement with the actions of Patrick Gray Sharp and to therefore deny white male Baptists the rights others enjoy.
So I denounce this attack and state unequivocally that we white male Baptists do not believe in this kind of violent extremism. I beg you all not to condemn all of us for the actions of this lone member of our community, although of course I will understand if you decide that you must do so and will humbly accept whatever restrictions on our full participation in society that you see fit to impose. That’s only fair.
Read the whole thing, and I hope you accept his act of contrition, as well as the contrition of one of his commenters, who also apologizes:
Also, as a white male Catholic, I am also obliged to apologise for the actions of Mr. Sharp, as, despite being a member of a different denomination I am also Christian and that makes me “close enough”. Despite the fact that many extremist Baptists are as likely to be opposed to Catholics as anything else, I still apologise, as I must, or else I willingly accept whatever limitations on building a Catholic church in the region you might feel reasonable to place.
