The Rev. Greg Thomas claimed that “the vandal was merely suffering from a mental illness and made no mention of the incident being a possible religious hate crime.”
Of course. For all too many people in the West, jihad simply doesn’t exist. The idea that a Muslim might want to tear down a cross because Muslims think it wrong and blasphemous to assert that Jesus died on a cross (cf. Qur’an 4:157) doesn’t exist for them. Most don’t even know that Islam teaches that. So of course the Rev. Greg Thomas ascribes this incident to mental illness. That it may be, but there is a clear pattern on the part of authorities of ascribing what are clearly jihad attacks to mental illness. If this were an attack motivated by Islam, would British officials and the establishment media ever even tell us?
“Reverend of Baptist Church Targeted by Man Who Tried to Tear Down Cross Expresses Sympathy for Vandal,” by Paul Joseph Watson, Summit News, October 19, 2020:
After a man was caught on camera and subsequently arrested for trying to tear down a Christian cross from the roof of a Baptist church in east London, the Reverend of the church played down the incident, asserting the vandal was just mentally ill.
The shocking footage, which went viral on Twitter yesterday, shows a man of Middle Eastern appearance trying to pull down a large wooden cross from the roof of the Chadwell Heath Baptist Church in Romford….
However, instead of defending the faith, Rev. Greg Thomas, the minister of the church, responded to the incident on Facebook by asserting the vandal was merely suffering from a mental illness and made no mention of the incident being a possible religious hate crime.
“Yes, the cross was vandalised,” wrote the Reverend. “However, when I caught him it became apparent very quickly that he was not at all mentally well.”
The Reverend added that he was pleased the vandal didn’t fall off the roof and hurt himself and that he will now be assessed and “hopefully receive the help he requires.”
“It was frustrating to have the church vandalised but material things can be fixed with ease. Had he lost his life that would have been tragic,” said the Reverend.
One wonders what the media’s response would have been if a white man had attacked a mosque in east London.
It’s extremely doubtful his actions would have been excused by merely labeling him “mentally ill”.