Vandals Spray-Paint Fairfax Church - Police Consider Incident Hate CrimeFAIRFAX, Va. -- A church that made headlines by splitting with the Episcopal Church is now the victim of hate crime vandalism, according to police.
A member of the Truro Church in the old town district of Fairfax City, Va., saw someone spray-painting the number "666" onto church doors over the weekend.
Authorities said the church member yelled at the vandal and the man ran away.
The Truro church recently split from the Episcopal Church because of a dispute over gay issues, but the church does not believe the vandalism is connected."I think this is a one-time thing, hopefully," said Harry Zeiders, Truro Church executive assistant. "I pray for the perpetrator and just hope that they don't damage any other properties."
Police are calling the incident a hate crime because of what the vandal spray-painted.
BB NOTE: Click on the headline above to go to the story.
5 comments:
NBC4 must have been crusing the police reports for this to be released then with the photos.
When I heard about this I thought it was much more benigh than the photos. They made sure all doors to the sancuary were coverd, the inside one is very brazed. I'm going to guess the work of one vandal because of the exact pattern. The "666" in Scripture is clue to the anti-Christ but popularly 'the number of the beast,' the circle with an "X" is probably 'no admittance.'
No clue if the vandal is "making a claim" on Truro Church or is saying that it's a place of the devil (the reference to former PB's comments).
BB said it was discovered for the Saturday night service. That's odd for practice is beforehand, so there's people running around, so maybe this is not some random act. I guess 1 Cor. 13 instructs me to always presume the best, but whoever did this would have the known the patterns of peoples comings and goings and struck quickly. Though I'm glad that it was "666" and no commonly used slur, hopefully maybe a nieghbor kid who trying to prove something.
Reguardless, prayer is the proper response. Vandals are only proving the falleness of this Earth, maybe more so than a thief, and our desperate need for a Savior.
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Lord Jesus, please help us to always lift You Name up that You will draw all men unto Yourself, even those who would spray paint offensive stuff on church door. Please reveal the depth of You love for the person(s) that did this act and help Truro Church reach out in Your love as well. Redeem this situation for Your glory.
Duh??? I just read the whole article, yes one man.
(Words vs. Picture - I'll always look at the picture [A thousand words, right?]).
Hopefully, there a good describtion or the parishioner would recognize the man if seen again.
Thanks for the update.
Pictures 3 and 4 are of the same set of doors, no?
wm.
Seeing this, I was reminded of the gang that defaced a number of cemeteries in our community about a decade ago. During the space of a night, apparently in several coordinated groups, they spray-painted obscenities in red paint on hundreds of grave monuments including the graves of my family. They were never caught.
I made a point of taking my young son to see it before the cemetery staff removed the graffiti (the "ghost" of the writing lingered for seveal years).
Seeing these pictures gave me the same "gut-grinding" feeling of something sacred being violated.
Sorry, you can read about the cemetery incident here:
http://starbulletin.com/97/04/21/news/story1.html
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