2.23.2008
A Note to Journalists Looking for an "Occult" Angle
Who vandalizes churches? Crazy people do.
"Banks-Kastrup is accused of several acts of vandalism at St. Michael the Archangel Church on Levittown Parkway in Tullytown in recent weeks. Since Feb. 9, lewd words have been carved into the church doors, a petition book on the altar of the Blessed Mother was defaced, human feces were found on the floor and the church received a threatening letter, according to police ... She told three retail theft suspects who were in handcuffs on a nearby bench that she was God and her daughter was the mother of Jesus Christ."
Who else might vandalize a church? Self-destructive teenagers.
"Middletown investigators are following up tips regarding the graffiti and desecrated statues and doors at Our Lady of Perpetual Help on Woodbourne Road Feb. 10 ... Falls police said they're increasing patrols at all the churches in that township after a man wearing a sweater with occult symbols warned the pastor of St. Joseph the Worker Church to get back inside the church after Mass. Police also said a woman in black goth-style clothing was begging for money in the church parking lot. And on Sunday, officers received several reports of thefts from vehicles in the church parking lot off New Falls Road."
So try not to read too much into the "occult" sweater, since that could describe nearly forty years worth of rock/metal t-shirts. The fact is that the vast majority of vandalized churches have no connection to "the occult", "santeria", "witchcraft", or a "Satanic cult". No matter what certain over-zealous police officers may think.
Labels: occult, Paganism, Satanic Panic
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