A little over a week ago I reported that the
Presbyterian Church (USA) had given final approval of marriage equality within that Christian denomination. Well, it didn't take long for at least one threat to arrive in an affiliated church in Missouri.
From Think Progress:
But just a few days after the pivotal vote, four different Presbyterian churches in southeast Missouri received an unsigned letter condemning homosexuality and threatening to attack congregations that embrace same-sex marriage.
The letter, written in all capital letters and riddled with typos, opened by citing a passage from the biblical book Leviticus condemning same-gender sex. The author then issued a chilling warning to area churches who host same-sex weddings.
“People U (sic) had better turn around or your soles (sic) are going down…” the letter read, which was photographed by local news affiliate 12 KFVS. “Any church that accepts this [same-sex marriage], should be burned to the ground, any pastor who performs such marriage (sic) should be kicked out of the church forever. The above statement could happen to any church that performs this action … You have been warned churches.”
Rev. Kim Nelson, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Cape Girardeau, which received one of the letters, told ThinkProgress that local police and the FBI are investigating the incident to determine whether the letter constitutes a hate crime.
Unfortunately, burning or threatening to burn (others') churches to the ground is nothing new. The burning of African-American churches is well documented. And, pretty much the
same thing happened to Metropolitan Community Churches when that denomination (which ministers primarily to the LGBT community) was begun in 1969. From MCC Founder Troy Perry's book, "Don't Be Afraid Anymore":
Seventeen sites where we have worshiped have been intentionally burned, three in 1973 alone. Our Mother Church was the first, burned in January. Two months later, in March, our meeting place in Nashville, Tennessee, was torched, destroying sacred items upon the altar. Authorities called it a fire "of suspicious origin." As in Los Angeles, no one was injured and no one was ever apprehended.
The third fire, in June 1973, was by far the worst, a nightmare in a city where unsuspected intolerance festered like an unclean wound.
Many fundamentalists are so threatened by the acceptance of LGBT folks (and, especially marriage equality) that they seem to completely lose their minds. It's just so foreign to their world view. The Rev. (and former) Elder Don Eastman (of MCC) once stated in a sermon, "Our fundamentalists friends are frequently in error, but never in doubt."
There is a news report of this event along with a copy of the letter here.