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Old 10-03-2014, 09:20 AM
 
13,011 posts, read 13,004,409 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Shirina View Post
Most of the time, these incidents turn out to be caused by:
  • A disgruntled church employee who was fired
  • An angry husband who thought his wife was spending too much time at church
  • An arsonist who wanted to make sure he didn't kill anyone (and churches are usually unoccupied at night)
  • A custodian who lit a cigarette near flammable cleaning materials
  • Old, worn, or obsolete electrical equipment or electrical wiring
  • Kids angry that they're being forced to attend church
  • Some personal drama taking place between a member and the pastor

Or other reason similar to the list above. Very very rarely do these kind of incidents turn out to be religiously or politically motivated.
Yes. In other words, people burn churches, or they burn by accident, for much the same reason any other public building burns.
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Old 10-03-2014, 12:34 PM
 
1,292 posts, read 3,465,982 times
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People burn and vandalize churches and other places of worship because they hate the religion that is practiced there, they hate the religion, or they hate religion in general.

Statues in a NJ church were vandalized: Statues vandalized at 2 Vineland Catholic churches, police say | NJ.com

Churches and synagogues in Bay Ridge: Cops arrest suspect in religious site vandalism | Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Union City, CA: Vandals deface Catholic church on Ash Wednesday - SFGate

Some of it is satanic in theme: ‘Smoke Meth and Hail Satan’: Vandals Burn Bible, Etch ’666′ Into Altar in Disturbing Church Attack | TheBlaze.com

Sometimes it is atheist in tone, like the "Flying Spaghetti Monster" tagging at this church in Bend: Unusual Vandals Tag Two Bend Churches | News - Home

Or those who painted "There is No God" and "God=Delusion" at this church in Irmo: Vandals paint 'There is no God' at Irmo church : News : WACH.com Sheriff: Suspects Vandalized 2 Irmo Churches - Police & Fire | Irmo-Seven Oaks, South Carolina Patch

Some of it is probably ISIS inspired: 3 Columbus churches vandalized with graffiti overnight - 13 WTHR Indianapolis.

Sometimes, it is racist, as with the black churches that have been burnt down in the south.

To their credit, some atheists have raised money to repair the damage. Some atheist signs and bilboards have been vandalized as well. Roadside memorials and war memorials that feature crosses have also been stolen and vandalized.

People should respect other's beliefs.
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Old 10-03-2014, 12:47 PM
 
5,187 posts, read 6,922,410 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nmnita View Post
I just got a phone call from a member of the church we attended when we lived in NM. It seems someone decided to take a match to the trailers that were the offices and Sunday school of St Philips Episcopal church last Friday. All the records are gone, the Sunday school is damaged and the food that was used for the food pantry was destroyed. I can understand some crimes, and I can understand people not believing in God, but I can not understand why someone would do something like this? Luckily the priest was not in the office at the time.

My prayers go out to all my friends involved in the church. I did hear the community has come forward with help, especially in rebuilding the supply of food for food pantry.
Arson is a terrible crime but what one learns here is that the people are the church not a building, all of that stuff can be retrieved eventually and find a different place or places to congregate until then. Glad that no lives were lost.
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Old 10-03-2014, 05:05 PM
 
6,324 posts, read 4,308,516 times
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Quote:
Sometimes it is atheist in tone, like the "Flying Spaghetti Monster" tagging at this church in Bend: Unusual Vandals Tag Two Bend Churches | News - Home
Sometimes you can actually feel sympathy for these folks. I have no desire to see churches and statuary vandalized or destroyed.

(You see, that's empathy, Vizio, one way to realize when something is immoral).

BUT ...

All too often my empathy and sympathy evaporates immediately when someone says something like this:
"Yeah, it's a bummer what we have to go through and redo all this for a brand new facility," said Rod Kirk, the director of facilities for Westside Church. "But the bottom line is that God is the one that's going to get revenge -- we aren't."
Of course, if the person responsible repents, well, sorry Mr. Kirk, but no revenge will be forthcoming. You can then go back to worshiping your God of Wrath.

Quote:
People should respect other's beliefs.
Beliefs should be respected in the sense that people shouldn't be going around vandalizing, terrorizing, destroying, or disturbing other people's places of worship. Yeah, that I agree with.

But I'm long past accepting the old tradition whereby religion automatically receives respect and deference.
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Old 10-03-2014, 05:23 PM
 
1,292 posts, read 3,465,982 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Shirina View Post
Sometimes you can actually feel sympathy for these folks. I have no desire to see churches and statuary vandalized or destroyed.

(You see, that's empathy, Vizio, one way to realize when something is immoral).

BUT ...

All too often my empathy and sympathy evaporates immediately when someone says something like this:
"Yeah, it's a bummer what we have to go through and redo all this for a brand new facility," said Rod Kirk, the director of facilities for Westside Church. "But the bottom line is that God is the one that's going to get revenge -- we aren't."
Of course, if the person responsible repents, well, sorry Mr. Kirk, but no revenge will be forthcoming. You can then go back to worshiping your God of Wrath.



Beliefs should be respected in the sense that people shouldn't be going around vandalizing, terrorizing, destroying, or disturbing other people's places of worship. Yeah, that I agree with.

But I'm long past accepting the old tradition whereby religion automatically receives respect and deference.
I feel the same way about atheism. Foolish ideas should always be mocked, and atheism is a foolish idea. But while I discard their beliefs as preposterous, I would not vandalize one of the atheist "churches" that have sprung up, nor would I burn a copy of one of Dawkins' books (or any books).
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Old 10-04-2014, 06:45 AM
 
6,324 posts, read 4,308,516 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Arizona Mike View Post
I feel the same way about atheism. Foolish ideas should always be mocked, and atheism is a foolish idea.
*snicker* You can try ...
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Old 10-04-2014, 09:10 AM
 
12,918 posts, read 16,815,749 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fishbrains View Post
Yes. In other words, people burn churches, or they burn by accident, for much the same reason any other public building burns.
BUT they also might burn them for deliberate reasons (not listed). And a couple of the things on that list could qualify as disagreements with the religion.
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Old 10-05-2014, 03:39 PM
 
31,387 posts, read 36,978,939 times
Reputation: 15038
washingtonpost.com: Church Burnings in the South
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Old 10-05-2014, 03:40 PM
 
Location: southern california
61,289 posts, read 87,260,493 times
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same reason they would urinate and defecate on a church, same reason they would tag a church or deface its images.
hatred of good
jesus did not just rub people the wrong way, they hated his goodness.
they killed him. nothing less will satisfy the carnal mind.
i bet you still dont think there is such a thing as satan do you?
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Old 10-05-2014, 05:54 PM
 
1,292 posts, read 3,465,982 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Shirina View Post
*snicker* You can try ...
From your mouth to God's ear, my friend.
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