Whoopi Goldberg responded Tuesday to reports that a third black church in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, had been the target of suspected arson in just a few weeks.
“You are not going to stop the conversation with God,” she said during the opening segment of “The View.”
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“Three historically black churches in St. Landry Parish have been burned,” Goldberg began. “And, uh — it occurs to me that — people think if you burn the church, you’re going to hurt the people. But people can celebrate their relationship with God outside. They don’t need the building.”
Goldberg went on to compare what has happened in Louisiana recently with things that had happened when she was a little girl.
“I’m not a big person of faith. But I am a big person of everyone’s right to celebrate their faith. And, seeing this burning churches thing start happening again, I grew up watching this on television. We have already done this,” she said. “We don’t need to go back to this.” (RELATED: Whoopi Goldberg Explains ‘The View’ Absence, Admits She Almost ‘Left The Earth’ Due To Pneumonia)
Republican Louisiana Rep. Clay Higgins took to Facebook to issue a direct plea to the alleged arsonist, saying, “I advise you to hear my heart and turn yourself in. You’re going to jail one way or another.”
Goldberg concluded by saying that burning the church would never take away the spirit of what was happening inside.
“So I’m just saying — stop. There are other ways to express your anger,” she argued. “This is not it. Shooting people is not it. Burning the church is not it. You are not going to stop the conversation with God. I’m just telling you.”