Sunday Essay: When Identity Becomes Idolatry - What the Minneapolis Catholic School Shooting Reveals About Our Age
The massacre at a Catholic school in Minneapolis wasn’t just another tragedy—it was a revelation of where our culture now stands. And the Church is increasingly in the crosshairs.
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by Virgil Walker
August 31, 2025
The news hit like a gut punch. A Catholic school in Minneapolis. Children gunned down during the morning hours at school. Two killed. Seventeen wounded. Parents dropping their kids off for what should have been the safest place — a school where religion is practiced — never imagined they would receive the call every parent dreads: Your child has been shot.
I tried to picture it. A mother straightening her child’s collar before drop-off, a father whispering, “Be good, I’ll see you after school,” — only to be met an hour later with news that their little one’s desk now sits empty. No parent is prepared for that sound. No heart can withstand it. And yet this is reality for families in Minneapolis today.
As a father of three children, I cannot imagine the outrage and emptiness left from such a tragedy. The thought of sending your child to school in the morning only to be robbed of them by mid-afternoon is enough to break the strongest man.
This isn’t the first time we’ve asked how such evil is possible. Just two years ago, six lives were stolen at The Covenant School in Nashville. Two cities. Two schools tied to the Church. Two reminders that America’s children are not safe from a culture that worships lies.
And beneath both tragedies lies the same sobering truth: when identity becomes idolatry, it breeds despair, rage, and death.
Identity Without Christ
Our culture promises freedom in self-expression, but the writings of these shooters tell the truth: self-made identities don’t set anyone free. They enslave.
When identity becomes idolatry, it demands worship. And when the idol disappoints — when the new name, the new gender, the new pronouns can’t deliver peace — the result is despair, rage, and destruction.
Paul warned us in Romans 1: exchange the truth of God for a lie, and futility follows. Darkened hearts, disordered passions, and ultimately death. That is exactly what we see in these stories. Young men and women convinced they could reinvent themselves apart from the God who made them, only to discover that the god of self is a cruel master.
The Covenant journals revealed a heart consumed by confusion, obsession, and suicidal ideation. The Minneapolis shooter’s life echoed the same pattern — an identity unmoored from truth, a soul collapsing inward. These are not outliers. They are the predictable fruit of a culture that preaches, “You are whoever you say you are.”
The Idol of Infamy
The Covenant shooter’s journals revealed an obsession — not just with killing, but with being known for it. The shooter fantasized about a museum exhibit, imagined documentaries, and dreamed of leaving a mark through blood. That’s not just violence. That’s worship.
This is the modern Tower of Babel: “Let us make a name for ourselves” (Gen. 11:4). But the bricks aren’t stacked stone; they’re stacked bodies. The altar isn’t in a desert plain; it’s in a classroom. When identity fails to satisfy, the idol of infamy steps in to whisper, “At least they’ll remember your name.”
Our culture feeds that idol daily. TikTok fame. Instagram clout. The myth that fifteen minutes of recognition is worth a lifetime of obscurity. We’ve discipled a generation to crave applause — even if it comes through destruction.
But Scripture reminds us: the only legacy that matters is one hidden with Christ. “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). The names that endure are not the names carved into headlines, but the names written in the Book of Life.
The Church as the Target
The pattern is impossible to ignore. Minneapolis in 2025. Nashville in 2023. Both attacks directed at schools tied to the Church.
In Nashville, it was a Presbyterian Christian school — a place where children were taught Scripture, prayed over by teachers, and raised in the shadow of the cross. In Minneapolis, it was a Catholic school — a religious institution still connected to the broader Christian tradition, where children were instructed in religion. Different traditions, same root. Both carry the name of Christ in some form.
And here is what we do not see: shooters storming mosques. Gunmen targeting secular private academies. We see hostility aimed at institutions tied to Christianity. Why? Because the spirit of this age is not neutral. It is antichrist.
Jesus told us plainly: “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world… therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18–19).
This isn’t random. It is deliberate. This is not random violence. It’s targeted hostility against the cross.
We’ve already seen the trajectory. After Roe v. Wade was overturned, dozens of pro-life pregnancy centers were vandalized or firebombed. Churches across the country have been desecrated with graffiti, broken windows, and arson. Christians in the workplace are increasingly silenced, mocked, or forced out when they refuse to bow to cultural orthodoxy. Globally, Christians remain the most persecuted religious group, and the hostility is creeping steadily westward.
The pattern is clear: the cross has a bullseye on it. The mere presence of Christ’s name provokes the rage of the enemy. Satan doesn’t waste bullets on secular idols—he wages war against the Bride of Christ.
This is why pastors cannot afford to play games. This is why parents cannot afford to outsource discipleship to a once-a-week program. The enemy is not casual. He is strategic. And he has already marked the next generation of the Church as his target.
More Than a Law Problem
Whenever tragedy strikes, the reflex is predictable: calls for more laws, tighter restrictions, and new regulations. But here’s the reality: Minnesota — the site of the most recent shooting — already has some of the most stringent gun laws in the nation. Ranked 14th in gun law strength, Minnesota requires universal background checks for all gun sales, has a “red flag” law allowing courts to disarm those deemed dangerous, imposes waiting periods for handgun purchases, and prohibits certain firearm accessories like binary triggers.
In other words, Minnesota had all the “commonsense” laws the gun-control lobby keeps demanding. And yet, two children are dead, seventeen are injured, and a community is scarred. Why? Because evil cannot be legislated out of the human heart.
The problem is not fundamentally about access to a firearm. The problem is about access to the truth. When a culture rejects the God who is truth, it embraces lies. When it denies the image of God in man, it cheapens life. And when it elevates identity and notoriety as ultimate, it ends in blood.
This is more than a policy debate. It is a spiritual crisis. The rejection of truth. The acceptance of a lie. The ending of precious life created in the image of God.
A Call to Preparedness
When the walls of Jerusalem lay in ruins, Nehemiah armed the builders with both trowels and swords. They built and defended at the same time. That is the picture we need in this hour.
Preparedness is not optional. It is obedience.
Physically, our churches and schools must take security seriously. Evil is not hypothetical — it’s walking through doors with loaded guns. Locked doors, trained staff, and clear plans are no longer luxuries; they are necessities. We do not trust in these things as our ultimate protection, but we would be foolish not to use them as tools of stewardship.
Spiritually, parents must reclaim their God-given role as the first and most consistent disciplers of their children. The culture is catechizing them every day — through TikTok, classrooms, media, and peers. If parents are silent, the culture will not be.
And pastors? Now is the time to shepherd with urgency, not entertainment. Too many pulpits have gone soft, trading the sword of the Spirit for a stage show. The wolves aren’t impressed with fog machines. They only flee from the Word rightly preached.
Psalm 127:1 declares, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” That’s the call. We must prepare. We must watch. But we must never forget that apart from the Lord, our efforts are empty. Our security is not ultimately in stronger locks or smarter plans — it is in the God who neither slumbers nor sleeps.
The Church in America has been lulled into thinking safety is our birthright. But Christ never promised us safety. He promised us Himself. And that is enough to stand, to build, and if necessary, to bleed.
Takeaways for Parents and Pastors
For Parents
Disciple daily. Do not outsource spiritual formation to schools, churches, or youth groups. Open the Bible with your children. Pray with them. Teach them to see the world through God’s Word.
Guard their gates. What comes through the phone, the tablet, the streaming service, and the classroom is not neutral. Protect their hearts and minds as diligently as you would guard their physical safety.
Model courage. Show your children what it looks like to stand firm when truth is costly. They will follow your example far more than your words.
For Pastors
Preach with urgency. This is no time for soft sermons or motivational talks. The sheep need the rod and staff of God’s Word, not the fluff of entertainment.
Train watchmen. Equip men and women in your congregation to discern, to defend, and to endure. Weak churches cannot withstand strong enemies.
Refuse compromise. Do not water down the Gospel to appease culture. A diluted Gospel cannot save and will not stand against the schemes of the devil.
Final Word
The Minneapolis shooting and the Covenant tragedy in Nashville are not just stories of broken individuals. They are warnings to the Church. The idols of identity and infamy destroy lives, and the cross is increasingly in the crosshairs.
But our hope is not in new laws, new programs, or new strategies. “Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain” (Psalm 127:1). Parents, pastors, believers everywhere — prepare. Not in fear, but in faith. Build walls of truth, raise children of courage, and stand as a Church that refuses to bow.
The world tells us, “Find yourself.” Jesus tells us, “Lose yourself.” One path ends in headlines of blood. The other ends in eternal life.
— This essay originally appeared at Virgil Walker’s Substack, which you should follow.
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LOVE THIS TRUTH. It shouldn't be lost upon Christians that Christian schools and churches are attcked and it isn't just "crazy people", it is demonic, it is Antichrist. Thank you for plainly and biblically laying this out, Rod.