There’s been a very troubling story in the news over the past several months, and that has been the repeated vandalism at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Annandale. A welcoming, inclusive, small but vibrant congregation, the church has been vandalized seven times over the past few months. Most recently, someone destroyed many of the pew cushions in the church, which are affixed to the pews and thus difficult to replace or repair. Additionally, on one occasion a young volunteer allegedly was assaulted by the intruder. See http://www.fox5dc.com/news/local-news/annandale-church-vandalized-for-the-7th-time-since-may for details.
Before we go further, Bob Malm might well consider folks at this church to be a threat. Given that he claims protesting is somehow a threat to him, the church’s recent outdoor protests, objecting to vandalism at the Jewish Community Center and nearby UCC church, no doubt caused Bob Malm tremendous alarm; see the photos below of the church’s efforts.
But to fully see how Bethlehem Lutheran really is Christian, versus the #fakechristian nonsense that comes from Bob Malm, see what the church’s interim pastor said about the recent vandalism and the person behind it:
That’s a far cry from Bob Malm’s efforts to obtain a restraining order based on his paranoid assumptions/conclusions based on a few words in someone’s blog.
Of course, that is not to say that I condone vandalism. Indeed, I abhor violence of every sort, including the emotional and relational violence, and shunning, that is part and parcel of Bob Malm’s “ministry” at Grace Episcopal Church.
And like members of Bethlehem Lutheran church, I am prepared to call out Bob Malm, Jeff Chiow, and all who seek to oppress, intimidate, and harm others. The First Amendment still guarantees the right to peaceful protest, even under Donald Trump and Bob Malm.