Maybe he did have “mental health issues,” but he was also “shouting about religion but to be honest he wasn’t making much sense” and “might have been Algerian or Moroccan.”
He may have “mental health issues” and also be motivated by the fact that the cross is an affront to Islam. The Qur’an claims that Jesus was not crucified, although in somewhat equivocal language for what is supposed to be the perfect word of an omniscient god:
“And their saying, ‘Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah.’ And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but another was made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain.” (4:157)
And a hadith depicts Muhammad saying: “The Hour will not be established until the son of Mary (i.e. Jesus) descends amongst you as a just ruler, he will break the cross, kill the pigs, and abolish the Jizya tax. Money will be in abundance so that nobody will accept it (as charitable gifts).” (Bukhari 46.37.2476)
This means he will destroy Christianity (break the cross), force the Christians to obey the Islamic food laws (kill the pigs) and end the second-class dhimmi status (abolish the jizya) that Islamic law specifies for Christians, such that they will either have to convert to Islam or be killed.
Could he be both “mentally ill” and motivated by Islamic theological principles? Why not? We have seen authorities again and again ascribe to “mental illness” what are clearly acts of jihad, but this isn’t really an either/or proposition: a psychically marginal individual may see in an act of jihad, even one so comparatively harmless as tearing down a cross, a chance to get into the good graces of Allah and compensate for the things in his life for which he may feel guilty or tormented.
“Vandal who was caught on camera trying to TEAR a cross off the roof of church in east London is arrested after video provoked fury,” by Milly Vincent, Mailonline, October 19, 2020:
A man who attempted to rip a large cross from the roof of an east London church has been arrested by police.
Footage posted on social media appears to show a man repeatedly trying to pull a wooden cross from its base above the entrance to Chadwell Heath Baptist Church in Romford.
With the hood of a coat placed over the cross the man can be seen using all his force to release the cross from the roof of the church.
Today workmen were preparing to put the cross back on the roof.
A local cafe owner who witnessed the desecration said: ‘I saw the guy first when I was opening up at 8am.
‘He was sitting on the pavement bobbing his head back and forth.
‘You could tell he had mental health issues. I don’t think he was local because I’d never seen him before. I think he might have be [sic] Algerian or Moroccan.
‘He disappeared for a while after I first saw him, but then the next thing I know he’s climbed onto the church and he’s shouting random abuse.
‘He was very angry and he started damaging the cross.
‘He was shouting about religion but to be honest he wasn’t making much sense.
‘An audience started to build waiting to see what he was going to do next.
‘People were stood well back because they could see he was about to throw the cross.
‘When it finally came crashing down it didn’t hit anyone thankfully.
‘What happened next was so bizarre.
‘The police hadn’t arrived yet so the guy just jumped down and started dragging the cross through the streets — a bit like Jesus did….