Denver Synagogue Vandalized(Passion of Christ Blamed)

9News .com (Denver) ^ | 3/6/2004 4:44:35 PM | Paola Farer

[woofie]

DENVER - A Denver synagogue was damaged with graffiti overnight. Swastikas were drawn on the synagogue on south Monaco Parkway.

The graffiti was in the doorway and across a sign. There were also several symbols drawn on the back wall of the building.

A holocaust survivor who saw the graffiti says it was almost too much to take. There was no official response available from the congregation Saturday, although several people who called 9NEWS to report the damage said that they blamed Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion of the Christ” for rekindling anti-Semitism.

Members of the congregation will gather Sunday morning to start cleaning off the graffiti.

[stands2reason]

It's not a pinglist, it's a topic list ---somewhere on FR there's a list of them all. The only one I've seen lately that's being kept up to date is the *bang list which has articles dealing with RKBA. I'll poke around a little and see if I come up with it.

[.30Carbine]

One solved fraudulent "hate crime" was here in Vermont, during the height of the Take Back Vermont campaign, just after the VT Supreme Court ordered the legislature to create Civil Unions. A gay 'pastor' vandalized and torched his own car, then went to every media outlet he could with the sob story of how he was being persecuted. It didn't take very long to find him out.

[judicial meanz]

My sincere apologies to the Jewish community if this was an act of Christian intolerance. Today I will find out what the address is of the synagogue, and send some type of donation to help in the cleanup and restoration. Jews are my brothers and sisters, and I will do my best to help, even if I do live 1700 miles away.

In a related story, there are 6 Christian churches in the immediate 30 mile area around my residence that have been burned to the ground in the last two months. Each one is a total loss and the FBI is now involved in the investigation.

My church is worried sick about some freak burning it down, and it has been standing since 1657.

The point I am making with all of this is simple. It doesnt matter if you are a Christian or a Jew, there are people, organizations, and movements that hate us, and will stop at nothing to destroy or defame what we believe in.

Infighting between us only allows the other side ( whoever they are) to gain an advantage.

[The Raven]

>> said that they blamed Mel Gibson’s movie

Moveon.org in action.

[.30Carbine]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[xsmommy]

That's WRONG. People can have an opinion, without watching the movie!!!!

sure, you can have an opinion, and others are free to reject it as not credible, since you don't have anything but hearsay to base it on. opine away, and others are free to reject your opinion as not worth as much as someone who HAS seen it.

[veronica]

Now here is an interesting fact about this man. Just goes to show you people can't be judged by even all their life experiences..... He is a FLAMING communist. And was a member of ACT UP, when I knew him. He's homosexual.

Well, I guess that settles it. Hitler was right, I guess. That your point?

[veronica]

And a 400 plus post thread with many posters (not you) accusing the local Jews of defiling their own Synagoge is obscene, absent evidence other than the various posters opinions of "Jews".

Can't you just feel the love...

[SJackson]

Appropriate for a political forum though, I can see where it can be put to good use.

OMG, you have

GOT to be *ucking kidding me! I didn't think even freeps would be that cruel and bigoted. UN-*UCKING-BELIEVABLE!

Someone should print that whole Freak Republic thread out and send it to all the major media outlets and all the indie outlets to show that anti-semitism is not only alive and kicking, and that that goddamn Gibson movie is wreaking exactly the kind of havoc Jews were afraid it would.

Geez, that's real *ucking Christian of the freeps, isn't it? As a liberal Christian, that makes me physically ill. And can you just imagine their reaction if that had been a CHRISTIAN church vandalized like that????????????????

AM, sorry for the link.

[woofie]

And a 400 plus post thread with many posters (not you) accusing the local Jews of defiling their own Synagogue is obscene, absent evidence other than the various posters opinions of "Jews".

Can't you just feel the love...

You can also feel the love at DU, where raw, visceral hatred of Freepers, Republicans, President Bush, Christians,Cheney,and Ashcroft(I'm sure I'm leaving someone out) has become the Zeitgeist not only of the fringe but the mainstream Democratic Party.

Come to think of it, you can feel the love in this article where a movie is blamed for stirring up racial intolerance, based on what?

Perhaps another subject....Why aren't Charles Darwin's ideas on natural selection held equally responsible for the Holocaust.They were twisted and used as well as the Christian narrative to justify what can only be called the most heinous act in history.

[veronica]

I say the nutters at DU are wrong about FR, though now that I have seen the film I can understand some of the posts on this thread. I'll leave it at that.

At any rate, when decent people with generous hearts unite, they can do so much good. Hundreds Clean Up Vandalized Synagogue (Denver)

[Polybius]

Someone should print that whole Freak Republic thread out and send it to all the major media outlets and all the indie outlets to show that anti-semitism is not only alive and kicking, and that that goddamn Gibson movie is wreaking exactly the kind of havoc Jews were afraid it would. ........ Geez, that's real *ucking Christian of the freeps, isn't it? As a liberal Christian, that makes me physically ill. And can you just imagine their reaction if that had been a CHRISTIAN church vandalized like that????????????????

It is extremely unlikely that members of that synogogue did that to their own place of worship.

It is extremely unlikely that a devout Christian who saw "The Passion" did that to a Jewish place of worship. As I pointed out in Post 345 and Post 412, the old Eastern European, pogrom-initiation "the Jews killed Christ" libel simply is not a part of American Christian tradition.

So, who does that leave? That leaves:

A. The apolitical, areligious punk who goes around painting swastikas on a Synagogue one week and burning down a Christian Church the next week.

B. Real organized anti-Semites such as Skinheads, KKK, etc.

C. The anti-Christian that wants to pull a Tawanna Brawley on the Christian community.

or

D. The individual that that stands to get secondary gain (publicity, fame, glory, sympathy) from the event.

An example of D. is the phenomenon of the Firefighter Arsonist.

As the link shows, the Firefighter Arsonist phenomenon has reached such prevelance that the United States Fire Administration "has released a report on the problem of firefighter arson and what some communities and states are doing to prevent it." This phenomenon has reached such prevelance that the National Volunteer Fire Council has issued Special Reports on the problem.

According to the posted article of this thread, some individuals called the local TV station immediately after the incident and, with absolutely no proof for their accusations, blamed "The Passion" for this incodent. The news media then obligingly cast the media limelight on them.

Who are my prime suspects, in order?

1. The individuals, not who simply called in the crime, but who called in the crime and immediately blamed "The Passion". For an analogous situation, just imaging this call: "Hello, 9NEWS? The Baptist Church whose congregaton went to see "The Passion" last week just burned down and da Jooos did it. What's my name? Grand Wizard Joe.....I mean concerned citizen Joe Smith."

2. Apolitical, areligious punks who have been bombarded by the news media with predictions of anti-Semetic violence for the past two months.

3. Real, organized anti-Semites such as Skinheads who have been doing this for years and will continue to do this long after the media circus over "The Passion" is old news.

Neither Jews nor Christians who take their religion seriuosly are on my list of suspects.

What about a D.U. member? A D.U. member would fit in well in Categories C. or D.

[SJackson]

Unfortunately these things are fairly common, I'm sure there have been a number of incidents like this since the film opened. As I noted earlier there was one at a local high school. Most of the time the perps aren't caught, and my impression is when they are they're usually hangers on or just plain vandals. Unfortunately the press has given a new meaning to what have been routine occurances, so you can anticipate similar articles. As yes, dems will use it, if I was a dem canvasser I would.

You might note the related thread Hundreds Clean Up Vandalized Synagogue (Denver)

[hgro]

This is all Charles Krauthammer's fault. He wants to be a vicitim.

[TopQuark]

What is you religion, may I ask? How do you know it was done by your people?

I am Jewish. I know that the people who attributed the incident to the movie were Jewish because the vandalized house of worship was indicated as a synagogue.

You may have misunderstood me: I was not referring to the perpetrators of the crime but to the ATTRIBUTION of the crime to Gibson's movie: I think such attribution is wrong, both factually and morally.

I hope that if you reread my posts with foregoing in mind, it'll make more sense.

[sfRummygirl]

Veronica, I don't even know how to respond to that question. You are so reactionary and emotional. Talk about missing the point of what I was saying....
Did you notice the posts where I said my family committed the ultimate sacrifice to stop Hitler? My grandfather gave his life? How it affected my uncle?
Nevermind. It's like talking to a brick wall. I've had it with these threads. These people see what they want to see, anyway.

[wardaddy]

Aren't there somewhere around 500+ temple vandalisms per year in this country? (according to the ADL)

If so and this is the first since The Passion opened nearly 3 weeks ago then shouldn't there have been nearly 30 reports on temple vandalism since then (10 per week more or less)?

If this is the first then it looks like the averages are actually down a bit.

Maybe this is just the first to get some attention.

Somebody will vandalize at some point and leave a Passion calling card now and whether they are seriously anti-Jewish militants or Islmakazis ir just attention seeking kids...it won't matter.....unless it's an Islamakazi terr attack like the LA airport thing they squashed asap.

[SJackson]

That number strikes me as much too high for Temple and cemetery vandalism combined, I think total incidents are around 25 or so a week, and that includes every swastika painted on a garage. I’ll look for stats later and link them here, but I’d be surpised if “major” incidents like the one in Denver are one a week.

I wouldn’t base anything on growth. Late 2002, early 2003 saw a drop in incidents. The comparisons will be easier, and the fourth quarter was up.

My impression, and I don’t have the numbers to back it up, is that the growth area is on campus, high school and college, and it’s because of things like this, not the movies they’re attending.

I’ve seen reports of a dozen or so incidents since the film opened, including one at a local high school, most of them treated like vandalism, which they are. I think you can anticipate more press coverage like this, it’s a story now.

BTW, the FBI investigated and the LA incident wasn’t a terror incident, you know that. Good thing he accidently picked ELAL, likely the only ticket counter with an armed guard or the toll would have been higher.

[SJackson]

For 2002, 531 acts of vandalism (all types) 1,028 harassment, for a total of of 1,559. I think they were down a few percent in 2003.