A couple of churches in South Carolina were recently vandalized with anti-religion and pro-atheist messages. I join others in the atheist community in condemning this act. I think it reflects extremely poor judgment on the part of the perpetrators, and it accomplishes nothing constructive. I hope they are caught and have to do quite a bit of community service.
Hemant Mehta (Friendly Atheist) has been in contact with one of the pastors and is raising money to support a local secular charity.
It’s a gesture to show that, while we have very serious disagreements about the nature of God, we all want to help our communities and make this world a better place. It’s possible to work together toward that cause. It’s also a slap in the face to the vandals — if they wanted to prove anything, they failed.
I understand that some atheists are strongly opposed to much of what churches do (although this is certainly not the case for all atheists). Vandalizing churches has to be one of the least effective ways I can imagine to oppose what they do. There are plenty of other (legal) options for expressing one's opposition to church. Those who resorted to vandalism accomplished nothing.
