Not hate, just crime

A week or so ago, there was a burglary at a local church. Doors were broken into and computers and musical equipment were stolen.

Understandably, members of the church are upset.

However a letter this week, that equates a run-of-the-mill burglary where items of value were stolen with the desecration of a mosque and suggests that those of Christian faith do not have police protection is unwarranted and somewhat ignorant.

If the writer knew anything about the Muslim faith, then he would know that the Qur'an forbids Muslims from having anything to do with pigs or their byproducts. Consequently, to put a pig's head in a mosque falls most definitely under "hate crime."

What happened at the Oxford Hills Christian Fellowship is exactly the opposite. Some person or persons broke in and simply stole whatever was of value. It is doubtful they had any thought about the church being Christian or otherwise.

And unlike a pig's head (which, we imagine, is more difficult to procure and perhaps easier to trace) the sale of musical instruments and laptops is fairly common and – short of record-keeping of serial numbers – almost impossible to track.

Unfortunately the caveat "Now this is not a slam against the Norway Police" doesn't erase the fact that the entire beginning of the letter is just that –  and a slam against the media as well. If the writer actually looked, he would have seen that the burglary did, in fact, appear in the media under the police blotter.

The writer got it right though with "... praying ... for the souls of those who were involved. They need God just as much as we do."

They certainly do.