Police are investigating this act of vandalism against a controversial Catholic religious community.
A religious order's plans to build a community in rural McHenry County were greeted with heated opposition from neighbors before approval was granted last summer.But even they were shocked by what vandals did to statues of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary at the Fraternite Notre Dame monastery on New Year's Eve.
Someone spray-painted "Killer," "KKK," "666," "Go away" and "Leave" on the figures. They wrote an obscene message in snow at the base of one statue and stole an American flag.
"It breaks our heart," Sister Mary Valerie said Monday. She is one of a half-dozen priests and nuns who moved into the monastery on the 65-acre site near Marengo last August.
But please notice the downplaying of the incident – whereas if this had been a mosque or synagogue we would be reading about FBI involvement and probable hate crime charges. The same would be true if such vandalism happened at a black church
Bu since this is only an assault on white Christians, I guess it just doesn’t merit such serious treatment.
 |
Trackback Information for But It Won’t Be Treated Like A Hate Crime
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://blog2.mu.nu/cgi/trackback.cgi/143503Listed below are links to weblogs that reference 'But It Won’t Be Treated Like A Hate Crime'.
Comments on But It Won’t Be Treated Like A Hate Crime
I'm sincerely curious - how do you know that this will not be prosecuted as a hate crime? Did you speak with someone at the prosecutor's office?
As for the lack of FBI involvement, did you check to see whether the local authorities have sought any assistance?
It kind of seems like you might be trying to fan the flames of majority victimhood here, but I want to be fair and acknowledge that you might know more about this than you've stated.
I agree with you that this should be handled as a hate crime, but I'm not convinced it won't be. I'd hate to jump to that kind of conclusion.
|| Posted by Dan, January 3, 2006 07:55 PM ||Actually, your snide "majority victimhood" comment is the very sort of attitude that I sought to highlight.
After all, the article does more to downplay the possibility that this is a hate crime than anything else, despite teh campaign to keep the religious community out of the area. And we both know that FBI involvement would have been mentioned.
Contrast the sort of coverage we would get if this had been a synagogue, a mosque, or a black church. Some houses of worship are just a little more equal than others -- despite a history of desecration of Catholic churches, convents, and monasteries in this country at the hands of anti-Catholic bigots that dates back nearly two centuries.
|| Posted by Rhymes With Right, January 3, 2006 08:42 PM ||Believe me, RWR, I know plenty about anti-Catholic bigotry. And I fully expect that the authorities will do a proper investigation and seek appropriate charges on this matter. Your whiney speculations that they will not is simply nonsense.
Did the authorities ask for FBI assistance?
|| Posted by Dan, January 3, 2006 10:32 PM ||I would be shocked if this were prosected as a hate crime. How do I know that, Dan? From experience. I have seen numerous cases of hatred towards Christians that have been disregarded. By contrast, simply expressing a point of view on a college campus that "offends" someone from a protected group will put your academic career in jeopardy.
|| Posted by 4thelittleguy, January 3, 2006 10:38 PM ||Post a comment