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Maryland church, victim of hate crime, responds in love

Jan. 13, 2006

NOTE: Photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org.

By Erik Alsgaard*

BOYDS, Md. (UMNS) - On a bright, warm Jan. 12, members of St. Marks
United Methodist Church, church leaders, county officials and a
candidate for governor of Maryland stood on the front steps of the
church to see what Paul Hawkins had found there.

What he found has sent a chill through a community and brought people
together to stand up to racism and hate crimes.

What Hawkins found was a swastika.

The Nazi symbol was spray-painted on the front door of the St. Marks
church sometime on Jan. 10, in broad daylight. According to Florence
Phillips, who has been a member of the church located in rural southwest
Montgomery County for more than 60 years, she went for a walk by the
church with her grandson around 1:30 that afternoon and the church doors
were normal. Hawkins, a member of the community, reported the swastika
later, around 4:30 p.m.

"It's kind of a sad situation," said Phillips, "but we will overcome."

At a press conference held on the front steps of the church, with the
swastika clearly seen on the front door, the Rev. Tim Warner, pastor of
St. Marks, thanked the many church members, conference clergy and
community leaders who had come to support his congregation and
community.

"We consider this to be a desecration of holy space," Warner said. He
said that some people's immediate reaction to the graffiti was to paint
over it or hide it. Warner said no; what the church must do is "shine a
light on it," to show everyone that sin exists in the world.

Bishop John R. Schol, who spoke at the press conference, said Christians
should not, and United Methodists will not, tolerate racism.

"We are not intimidated," said the bishop, who leads the denomination's
Baltimore-Washington Conference. "We will not move; we are here to
stay."

The bishop urged all congregations in the conference to send a
representative to St. Marks on Sunday, Jan. 15, to stand with the
congregation during its 8 a.m. worship service, followed by church
members and youth erasing the symbol at 9:45 a.m.

Schol called upon all pastors of the conference and religious leaders
across Maryland to explain, teach and preach to their faith groups that
racism is a sin and not to be tolerated.

He also had a word for parents.

"We need to teach our children and youth about racism," he said. "We
need to teach them how to relate and engage with one another, regardless
of who they are or where they come from."

For the Rev. Mark Derby, superintendent of the Washington West District,
which includes St. Marks, this was a day for the church to show how
disciples of Jesus Christ behave.

"If those who perpetrated this crime were to walk in the front door of
this church, they'd be received in the love of Jesus Christ," he said.
"We stand with the church and affirm its ministry to the congregation,
neighbors and community."

In addition to the swastika spray-painted on St. Marks' front doors, the
nearby Boyds Negro School also was targeted. Other hate symbols were
painted the same day on two schools in Montgomery County and one other
African-American church.

Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan, a candidate for governor, also
spoke at the press conference.

"We are sadly gathered here today," he said. "We will not stand idly by
in the midst of hate mongers."

Duncan said law enforcement officials do not consider these acts mere
pranks.

"We consider these to be acts of hate, hurtful to the entire community,"
he said. Whoever committed the crimes, if convicted, would be punished
to the fullest extent of the law, according to Duncan and other
speakers.

The crimes committed against St. Marks may be linked to a splinter group
of the White Aryan Nation known as "W.A.R.," or White Aryan Resistance,
according to J. Thomas Manager, chief of police for Montgomery County.
The three initials were found at the two schools amid the hate crimes.
W.A.R., he said, spreads its hate through its Web site, and the tactics
used in these hate crimes resemble what he called a "lone wolf type of
tactic."

"This group has a lot of history behind it, a lot of violence, a lot of
connections. We don't know yet if this is connected to them, but we're
concerned," he said.

Manger said the recent hate crime activity in his jurisdiction - several
Hanukkah displays in Gaithersburg and Rockville fell victim to hate
crimes in late December - was a "spike we haven't seen in a few years."
Last year, he said, 47 hate crimes were reported to police. The year
before that, 40 were reported.

Following the press conference, the leaders marched from the church to
the Negro School to examine the damage done to the building and the
lawn.

Warner said he doesn't know why anyone would do what they did to St.
Marks, but he has an idea. In the last 18 months, under Warner's
leadership, the church has experienced growth in the community.

"This type of thing," he said, "wasn't happening when there were only
two cars in the parking lot."

*Alsgaard is the director of communications for the Baltimore-Washington
Conference.

News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org

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