Treme church vandalized with hate messages, graffiti .

[rug]

wwltv.com
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 6:11 PM
Updated yesterday at 7:12 PM

Paul Murphy / Eyewitness News

NEW ORLEANS -- Vandals left behind disturbing damage at a Treme church known for its "murder board" that lists the names of the people killed in the city of New Orleans.

Friday, Father Bill Terry performed a ritual to spiritually cleanse St. Anna's Episcopal on Esplanade Avenue just blocks from the French Quarter.

Thursday, someone desecrated the church's chapel.

The culprit scribbled swastikas and satanic symbols on holy cards and left derogatory messages mocking the church.

http://www.wwltv.com/news/local/Treme-Church-Vandalized-With-Hate-Messages-Graffiti-134151083.html

[darkstar3]

1. Swastikas? Another racially driven crime, it seems.

[rug]

2. Indeed. Along with "derogatory messages mocking the church".

Imagine that.

[darkstar3]

3. A church in NOLA that cares about those who die there?

Certainly a racist would have no reason to mock that church, now would they?

But don't let facts and probability get in the way of your persecution narrative...

[rug]

4. I'd like to but your persecution narrative is blocking my way.

Damn shame about those street signs.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[darkstar3]

6. At least those acts of vandalism were actually religiously motivated,

as opposed to this act which was very likely not.

[rug]

8. What part of "derogatory messages mocking the church" strikes you as areligious?

[NMMNG]

12. Christians play the Not a Real Christian game all the time

RRRW Christians constantly make derogatory statements about liberal Christians and vice-versa. Fundamentalists insist Catholics and Mormons are not Christians at all. A certain somebody here just opined that every version of Christianity but his was a caricature. You actually think it's impossible that this was done by another Christian?

[rug]

15. Well then, if it was then it was religiously motivated wasn't it?

And if it was vandalized with derogatory graffitti simply because the vandal was offended that it's a church, that too would be a religious, or rather an antireligious, motive.

[NMMNG]

17. If it was done by another Christian

who disagreed with the theology of the particular church it wouldn't be an "anti-religious" motive. It would be a very religious motive. Religious motives used as the impetus for vandalism and violence are quite frequent, even against other religious groups.

[rug]

18. And much vandalism has been done for antireligious purposes.

[NMMNG]

20. Water is wet

[darkstar3]

14. Let me get this straight. You think those statements were anti-religious?

You don't think it's possible for a Christian of one church to mock another supposedly Christian church without mocking the religion?

And before you answer, bear in mind that I grew up in an area in rural America where everyone was the same religion and yet managed to mock other churches all the damn time.

[rug]

16. Of course they're antireligious, whether it's against that particular religion or religion generally

Your personal anecdotes have no bearing.

[darkstar3]

19. You're blind.

Read the last sentence in my post above yours again. It's people inside the very same religion, who recognize that they are all part of the same religion, who engage in the mockery of churches back in my hometown.

I can't say this any clearer: It is possible, and frequently done, to mock a church without attacking the entire religion behind it. You may not be familiar with this, since your Church and your religion seem to be inseparable, but in the Protestant world, many churches stand alone, and claims made against a specific church of that persuasion do not remotely reach to Christianity or Protestantism in general.

If you disagree, then just think about how many Christians, even Baptists, you've seen mocking the Westboro Baptist Church.

Of course, all of this is a moot point, because what really appears to have happened in this case is a group of white supremacists defacing an institution known to sympathize with racial minorities. I don't think it had anything to do with religion, but we won't know until the assholes are caught.

[rug]

21. And you have blinders.

Thus ends another productive conversation with you.

[darkstar3]

22. In our entire history,

you have never attempted to make one of our conversations productive.

[NMMNG]

7. Swastikas are associated with neo-nazis and other racists

Atheists wouldn't be likely to use (allegedly) satanic symbols because such things are meaningless to them. Racist Christians, on the other hand, might. What better way to terrify other Christians in the deep South?

[rug]

9. Who said anything about atheists?

Although there are surely racist atheists given its broad definition.

[NMMNG]

10. There are racists of all stripes

But what do you mean about atheism having a "broad definition". An atheist doesn't believe in gods. That's pretty simple, actually.

[rug]

11. It's pretty simple and pretty broad.

Lot of people can fit under that umbrella.

[NMMNG]

13. There are about 40,000 denominations of Christianity

I think you guys have us beat.

[rug]

23. That's only because there are mony more people who join religions.

Give it time. The strong atheists will argue with the agnostic atheists, the liberal atheists will argue with the racist atheists, the third world atheists will argue with the first world atheists. It's only a matter of time.

[darkstar3]

24. Have you ever written for South Park?

That's the only other place I've seen such a ridiculous take on the concept.

[NMMNG]

25. Actually South Park is more intelligent

Beavis and Butthead are more intelligent.

[rug]

27. It's a tossup between you and darkstar.

[rug]

26. I may be wrong. You look just like one hbig happy family.