This coming week, the jury in the trial of Robert Bowers will begin hearing evidence about whether he should receive a death sentence for killing 11 worshippers and wounding six others at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue in 2018. Bowers was found guilty last month of a variety of federal crimes, including "obstruction of the exercise of religious belief resulting in death."
As horrible as his crimes were, mass killing in houses of worship sadly are not uncommon events in the United States. Those sacred places have gone from being sanctuaries for the poor, the political dissident and even the heretic to killing fields for mass murderers who see them as soft targets for their rage and hatred.
