For centuries most people have thought of churches as being places where they could feel safe, even claim asylum if necessary. And some of the worst elements in society even honored (if we might stretch the definition of that word in this regard) those holy zones.

In the past two years we have seen massacres in two churches plus others on campuses and social gatherings.

Now we have come to realize that no place is out of reach or out of target for domestic terrorism. And it’s peculiar how we coin those phrases to distinguish between international and domestic heinous events. The results of both are the same … horror, tragedy and to much extent, the feeling of helplessness.

In the venue of international terrorism, we most often see rogue political or religious ideologies that inflict the carnage. In domestic terrorism, it’s often at the hands of a garden-variety nutcase who is mad at the army, his mother or maybe his ex-wife. Again, the results are the same.

It’s sad to note that our society felt compelled to permit gun carry in churches … a cause and effect of domestic terrorism.  And we’ve been told that some area churches do have armed persons at services specifically with the aim of protecting those in attendance. Given the data, such reactions  do have validity.

A contributor to the Rants and Raves column on this page recently noted that it appeared such tragedy in our communities is becoming rather common, and it’s almost  as if we are becoming complacent about it … that we almost expect it or that we don’t get as shocked as we might have in the past.

If such is true, and we hope it is not, then this is a dangerous state of mind that could cause us to drop our guards and be less alert of actions and conditions that might lead to such travesty.

On our best day we are incredibly vulnerable to terrorists of any flavor … domestic or international. We are told that our intelligence agencies often stop would-be terrorists before they can act. We might be shocked at that number. And it’s probably much larger than anything they have released to the public in an effort to avoid panic.

The massacre in Texas recently illustrates our extreme vulnerability. And while many of us vow not to live in fear, we must be realists and to some extent survivalists as these malignant minds deliver their evil to our doorsteps.

And we should hope that discussions and proposals to combat this kind of horror come from a genuine sense of being our brother’s keeper and not from a political vantage point.

God help us!