Leftists have been indulging in an orgy of destroying statues lately, but their favored graffiti for statues is “RACIST” and the like, not “IDOL.” A Leftist may have done this, or conceivably some fanatical Protestant, although that is extremely unlikely. But could it have anything to do with the introduction into Miami of a large population of people who believe that Christianity is a false, indeed idolatrous, religion, and that they are commanded to fight unbelievers so that Allah may punish them by the hands of the believers (cf. Qur’an 9:14-15)?
Could it have anything to do with the Qur’an’s suggestion that the destroyed remnants of ancient non-Muslim civilizations are a sign of Allah’s punishment of those who rejected his truth? “Many were the Ways of Life that have passed away before you: travel through the earth, and see what was the end of those who rejected Truth.” (Qur’an 3:137) The ruins of non-Muslim civilizations thus bear witness to the truth of Islam. What ensues from that idea? The creation of more ruins.
Watch the video. Is the perpetrator wearing a robe or thobe? Or is this the work of a Leftist who is unwittingly (or knowingly) advancing the same agenda as that of the Islamic State and the Taliban?
Update. The Blessed Mother Statue has been cleaned and restored thanks to Catholic Cemeteries. The investigation is still on going. #800577TIPS #YourCityYourCall pic.twitter.com/nN3nNl6yWj
— NYPD Holy Name (@NYPD_HOLYNAME) July 12, 2020
“Vandals Allegedly Target Statues of the Virgin Mary in Boston, Queens,” by Amy Furr, Breitbart, July 12, 2020 (thanks to the Geller Report):
Two statues of the Virgin Mary were reportedly vandalized over the weekend in Boston, Massachusetts, and Queens, New York.
At around 10:00 p.m. Saturday, officers responded to a call about a fire in the area of 284 Bowdoin Street in Dorchester, the Boston Police Department said in a Facebook post.
“On arrival at Saint Peter’s Parish Church, officers observed a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary which had been set on fire,” the department noted…
In a similar instance on Friday, the Diocese of Brooklyn said the New York City Police Department (NYPD) was investigating the vandalization of another statue of the Virgin Mary at the Cathedral Prep School and Seminary in Queens.
“Security footage shows an individual approaching the 100-year-old statue shortly after 3 a.m. Friday morning and daubing the word ‘IDOL’ down its length,” the Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported.
Friday, the Brooklyn Diocese Press Office tweeted video footage of the alleged incident:
The @BrooklynDiocese is announcing the #NYPD is investigating an act of vandalism from earlier this morning at @CathedralPrep1 in #Queens as a possible hate crime. An individual approached the statue of the Virgin Mary at the entrance of Cathedral Prep and defaced it. pic.twitter.com/iQJEtwllur
— Brooklyn Diocese Press Office (@BQDiocesePress) July 10, 2020
elee says
Anybody gonna actually prosecute this POS?
Grace says
Please stop with the word ‘alleged” you would have to be an idiot not to know the intention of the perpetrator and alleging the intention or the crime happened is an insult to my intelligence.
gravenimage says
This was in the original article–this is not Robert Spencer’s phrasing.
CogitoErgoSum says
Sort of looks like the vandal is wearing a head covering similar to the one worn by the Virgin Mary. That’s interesting.
ajj says
unfortunately this time the vandal has a point – nowhere in the Bible it is ordered that Mary be venerated; in fact Catholisism shares the father mother child trinity-concept with all major pagan religions.
robyt says
Where did you read this ? ? ? what a bulls…t: Mary is not a divinity. The trinity concept is made of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is not a three God polytheism, and in any case, Mary is not part of the trinity. Also the statues are not idols, they are just artistic representations. Idolatry is quite a different thing, where the statues themselves are part of the divinity.
Mr K.Wade says
No he does not have a point, and neither do you. I’m an atheist and I support Christian monuments because they are a slap in the face to Islam and to fundamentalist churchians.
Reziac says
Likewise, and because Christianity is the bulwark of Western civilization. Without it, there is that much less to resist the Islamic flood. (Remembering that leftism is the secular religion that has largely replaced Christianity in the West… how’s that workin’ out for ya??)
revereridesagain says
Same here. I’m strongly suspect this is Muslim. There are those who do view such statues of Mary as idolatrous, though as robyt points out these are actually representations, not idols that are worshiped themselves. And I suspect there are statistically few with strong enough feelings about this to attack a statue who would NOT do so motivated by Islam. I do however suspect the scorching of the Virgin statue in Boston could have have an Antifa or similar connection. But these lines are becoming blurred.
Fat chance our learning the truth in the media. But if you run into a news story with Mayor Marty Walsh of Boston running on about “islamophobia” assume they caught someone named Ahmed.
RichardL says
you are a Muhammdan, right?
ajj says
Np, actually a Bible-believing Protestant witn sincere appreciation for the good information provided by Robert Spencer & Co
I am however vehemently opposed to the unbiblical attributes ascribed and veneration lavished on her by well-meaning yet misguided Catholics.
JamesC. says
STM Fundy Protestant activity is, on balance, more likely – though, for obvious reasons, “Muslamic” action is certainly possible. Would a Muslam be content merely to spray a word on what he regarded as an idol ? They seem, by all accounts, to prefer full-blooded iconoclasm: merely to spray an “idol” with a word seems very…….half-hearted.
gravenimage says
I doubt it, James. There have been Protestants in this nation for hundreds of years, and I have not seen cases like this one.
Reziac says
Oh, that would be an educated and moderate Muslim, who thought someone would read and understand.
As gravenimage points out, we’ve had several hundred years of Catholic and Prostestant churches and monuments side by side without any of this crap. But import Islam and suddenly here it is… of course Catholic facilities get hit first, because they have more obvious religious artwork. But it’s coming to every cross-bearing building in due course… just as is happening already in France (something over 1000 churches vandalized or burned, so far).
gravenimage says
+1
Wellington says
This barbarous act was almost certainly done by either a Leftist ignoramus or a Muslim ignoramus (like Robert Spencer I definitely lean to the latter).
Theoretically, it could have been done by someone not belonging to one of these two cult groups (N.B., all totalitarian ideologies, which most certainly include Islam and Leftism, are cults), but just calculate the odds here of the probability that this act of vandalism was not done by either a Muslim or a Leftist. Highly unlikely.
Two cancers, not one, presently exist in the West. The first is Islam, which has been a cancer in any Western body politic (or anywhere in the world for that matter) from its unfortunate inception in the seventh century AD onward to this day.
Leftism is the second cancer in the West right now, quite new, and has its roots in old fashion liberalism, certainly not something totalitarian, but which old fashion liberalism has been bastardized by its transformation into something horrible, i.e., modern liberalism, call it Leftism if you prefer. What has happened to the Democratic Party of the USA serves as a good example of how old fashion liberalism is practically no more because it has been replaced by its sorrowful and despicable successor, i.e., Leftism. And this is why ANY sensible, old-fashion Democrat still around must leave the Democratic Party because it is now beyond rescue.
Neither Islam nor Leftism respect freedom and differences of opinion. So very typical of totalitarian thought, whether secular or religious. Hence the destruction of Christian statues—and so many other statues. Totalitarians, you know, are very good at the destruction of so much.
mortimer says
Muslims excel in self-contradiction. They bow to pieces of gravel 5 times a day, but consider others to be idolaters. Most of Islam contradicts another part of Islam. Duality, dualism or dichotomy is a normative part of Islam. Muslim live in constant psychological confusion from their cognitive dissonance. Eventually the strain causes them to explode in rage and conduct jihad.
Mohammed provide the ‘other’ for convenient scapegoats for anything that upsets Muslims … including the upsetting absurdities of Islam itself.
gravenimage says
Worse than this, of course, is that they are taught to murder people for their incoherent beliefs.
SKA says
The Communists and Saracens have common enemies: the United States and Israel (“the West”); Christianity; and capitalism. They are tactical allies but are also long term strategic enemies of each other. Not that the Saracens want socialism – rather they want a prebendalist feudalist economic system in which all property belongs in theory to their deity but in practice dominated by the Sultan, Caliph, or Amir who then disperses some of the spoils to favored friends and family members. Of course when the common foes are eliminated then it will be the turn of infidel socialists to be exterminated by the Saracens.
Patrick says
To the victor go the spoils/booty.
Mitch Kumstein says
Give ’em the Lev Bronstein treatment……………………???
sixlittlerabbits says
On Twitter some people confused the gray-haired man who is spraying the statue to remove the graffiti with the perpetrator, who your video shows is wearing a robe or thobe!
gravenimage says
Thank you for that head’s up, sixlittlerabbits. Yes, this is done in broad daylight, and he clearly has a bottle of spray cleaner in his hand.
RichardL says
I see that and a skullcap…
wpm says
Yes JamesC there is a lot of STM Fundy Protestant?? in Queens NYC and Boston MA! My money is on Muslim followers doing their Jihad ,the communist and BLM idiots would not use the word Idol spray paint on anything to denote their dislike with any statue .Just a side note the anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish communities in Brooklyn are thru the roof with the influx of Muslims into those areas.
JamesC. says
I’m not from the US, so I have no idea whether there are many, or any, Fundy Protestants in that part of the world. Within the limitations of my knowledge, Protestant Fundamentalist activity seems not implausible, for the reasons given. Equally, PF iconoclasm – not mere defacing of imagery – is not unknown in Latin America: videos of such iconoclasm can be found on YT.
Since the US is a country in which RCism & Evangelicalism (of which PFism is a subset) both include many millions of souls, & now co-exist more or less amicably, RCism in the US may, perhaps, call forth less violent opposition than it does in countries where the population & culture are at least nominally RC, and where PFs are far less numerous. Violent persecution of RCism in the US or its parts, is a distant memory – violent persecution of Evangelicals/Fundamentalism in Latin America, by contrast, is not. And that probably does something to inflame PF oppostion to the dominant religion. It probably does not help relations between RCs and PFs, that whereas Protestantism/Evangelicalism has co-existed with RCism in the US for almost 250 years, the spread – not merely the presence – of PFism in Latin America is a much more recent development.
However all of that may be, perhaps the facts of the incident will emerge later. If and when that happens, guess-work can be set aside. If and when there is firmer evidence that the vandals were Muslims (or other non-Fundamentalists), then it can be looked at.
Wellington says
Reminds me of that old 19th century line (by whom I don’t recall at the moment), to wit, that in France there is one religion and fifty sauces while in America it is exactly the opposite.
JamesC. says
Might that be from de Tocqueville ? It sounds as though it could be from his period.
Wellington says
JamesC: That’s a good guess and it does come across as something the very clever and astute de Tocqueville might have opined.
gravenimage says
James, I haven’t heard of any Protestants doing this sort of thing, nor have I heard of any Protestants preaching such vandalism. Nothing is impossible, of course, but I think it *highly unlikely* that this was done by Protestants.
gravenimage says
And while you might find fundamentalist Protestants in pretty much any part of the country, they are statistically pretty thin on the ground in New York City.
mortimer says
So how do Muslims feel about THEIR IDOL the Black Rock … er … the Black Chips of the former Black Rock … er … the Holy Gravel? Muslims smashed and burned the Black Stone, so not all Arabs considered it important. It’s nothing more than a superstition … but most Muslims will not admit that they bow to an idol 5 times a day.
Omar, a successor to Mohammed, claimed that the Black Stone should not be touched or kissed and that it could do nothing for anyone. It was of no importance to Omar. Omar obviously considered the Black Stone an idol.
owensgate says
I disagree completely with defacing statues, or tearing them down; it’s our HISTORY, after all, and BTW, some of them, like Robert E. Lee, were honorable, unlike some of today’s idiot Generals and Politicians, but a statue of Mary? Of COURSE it is an idol, and as for it being art, it certainly wasn’t carved by Michelangelo or Phidias, and certainly not Henry Moore. In short, it looks very typical of “Mary” statues that dot the landscape of various Catholic Schools and Parishes, like they all came off an assembly line. The very definition of an “idol”. Not worth any effort of getting upset over.
JamesC. says
STM the RCC would be doing itself a very great – and much-needed ? – favour, if it allowed the use of statues, but had a lot fewer in practice. They are unnecessary, and they all too easy scandalise Evangelicals.
More to the point, the RCC claims to be a Christian Church (within the CC as a whole). So it could do a lot worse than ask itself whether it honestly *needs* to emphasise the BVM so much as it does. Keep the strictly doctrinal assertions about her – but cut down the devotional emphasis on her; and have icons of her, instead of all these statues. The devotional (over?)-emphasis on her has led in practice (not in theological principle) to making her (almost) a “female Christ”. That is not good, at all. Nothing that obscures or diminishes Christ can be good. A feast of the Nothingness of the BVM would be good – for, apart from Christ, that is all she is: “nothing, and less than nothing”. Without Christ, no creature is anything – for there are no creatures without Him.
Some things cannot be surrendered, given up, or discontinued, such as belief in, and preaching of, the Two Natures of the Word Incarnate; or emphasis upon the reality that the BVM is truly the God-bearer, from whom God-with-us was truly and really born. The BVM is therefore, in a true sense, to be carefully explained, Mother of God. All unnecessary scandalising of others must be avoid – but some scandals – the Incarnation, the Divine Maternity of the BVM, the reality of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ, the Atonement, the Uniqueness of Christ – are inseparable from faith in Christ and from His Significance.
gravenimage says
James, are you demanding that Catholics change their beliefs for vandals?
And no–few Christians are scandalized by Catholic beliefs, even if they do not share them.
Whereas Muslims are scandalized by *all* Christian beliefs. Would you also say that all Christians should change their beliefs to avoid scandalizing violent Muslims?
Wellington says
Disagree. Start with defacing or tearing down “generic “Marys” and the “road” to much worse is just ahead. Indeed, almost a guarantee.
And though an agnostic myself, it may be, per your words, an idol to you but to many others it is not. Start from this premise and not yours.
gravenimage says
Agreed, Wellington. Muslims are not going to stop here.
CogitoErgoSum says
It is not an idol. No one is offering sacrifices to it in the belief that it is a god.
curious george says
CogitoErgoSum says
It is not an idol. No one is offering sacrifices to it in the belief that it is a god.
……………………….
We will have to agree to disagree.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/idol
gravenimage says
Why do there seem to be people who are in agreement with ravening Muslims here?
I do not agree with Catholicism on all points; that does not mean that I think that Muslims vandalizing Christian works is a good thing, nor that it bodes well for other Christians or any other non-Muslims.
CogitoErgoSum says
George, yes, I agree that we disagree. Some people believe that any image of any thing is an idol. An idol to me is something that is worshipped as a god. Catholics do not worship Mary as a goddess no matter what others may say and we even are smart enough of know that a statue or picture of Jesus is just a statue or a picture. If you don’t like statues or pictures of Jesus, Mary or anything else, that’s fine with me. I believe people should be free to think whatever they want inside their own heads.
CogitoErgoSum says
In fact, I would say if anyone worships a dead human being as a god it is Muslims with their reverence toward Muhammad. They will kill you if you dare say anything they feel is insulting toward him. We Catholics won’t do anything near to that if someone criticizes Mary or even Jesus. We just turn the other cheek. So really, who are the real idol worshipers (even if there are no pictures or statues of Muhammad allowed)?
gravenimage says
Agreed, CogitoErgoSum. Those who think that Catholics consider Mary a god and worship statues are mistaken.
curious george says
CogitoErgoSum
I’m not following the logic here.
“An idol **to me** is something that is worshipped as a god.”
That is your opinion, and you are free to express your opinion. Merriam-Webster disagrees with your narrow interpretation of the word “idol.”
The issue isn’t about what Catholics believe or don’t believe, it’s merely about the correct definition of the word “idol.” Are you indicating that if someone defines the term “idol” differently than you, they are in error?
“I believe people should be free to think whatever they want ‘inside their own heads.”
Really? “Inside their own heads!” Isn’t that precisely what we are fighting for, our 1st Amendment rights to free speech, or does that only work when someone is agreeing with you?
CogitoErgoSum says
George, it would seem that Merriam-Webster is your god and you must believe whatever it tells you. That is curious. I don’t see what my saying you can believe whatever you want to believe inside your head is against free speech. You can think what you want to think and you can say what you want to say. Just don’t make me have to go along with everything you (or Merriam-Webster) say. I should be able to think what I want to think too.
RichardL says
naturally there are different ideas what an idol is. Isn’t there a TV show called American Idol and we say someone is idolising someone? In Christian usage an idol is a foreign god or symbol for that god. In Corinthians the early Greek Christian communities don’t know whether they are allowed to eat food that has been offered to some Greek god. That is why I don’t eat halal meat: it has been offered to a foreign god. Mary is portrayed here as praying for us.
CogitoErgoSum says
It’s also curious to me that you want me to think a statue of Mary is an idol, even though I don’t think it is an idol and I don’t think she is a goddess, so you can castigate me for thinking the statue is an idol and she is a goddess. What in the world is that about anyway? So you don’t like statues. Fine. I don’t care if you do or you don’t. You can go shout it on the mountaintops. You don’t have to be a Catholic if you don’t want to be a Catholic. Just don’t go defacing and vandalizing other people’s property or telling me what I have to believe.
gravenimage says
Oh, good grief. I know that owensgate has previously implied that most Christians are not Christians in his limited view.
And that he is fine with the vandalism of other’s property is also deeply disturbing.
And whatever his religious views, if he thinks that Muslims will not target him because he agrees with them that Catholics are ‘idolaters’, he is *much* mistaken.
And does he think that Muslims will stick at destruction of work by great artists? Again, he is quite mistaken.
owensgate says
Graven, well, it seems I’ve stepped on a landmine. Reasons, motive, underlying pre-conceived opinion, worldview, etc., cannot reasonably be all encompassing in one short Internet post. To elaborate then, if I’ve implied not all Christians are Christian, I should have made clear that not all “Christians” are “Saved Born-Again” Christians, the ones that actually have Eternal Life with our Creator God. Deception and False Doctrine are rampant in the World. The current Pontiff is working overtime to combine islam with Catholicism to create the End Days “One World Religion”. He is a Globalist, after all. As to my “Beliefs”, they are Non-Denominational; I currently get my “Spiritual Food” from Pastor Jack Hibbs “Calvary Chapel Chino Hills”, Jan Markell “Olive Tree Ministries”, Amir Tsarfati “Behold Israel” and Pastor J.D. Farag “Calvary Chapel Kaneohe, HI”, and I believe in checking the Bible to see if what I’m hearing is True, agree completely with the teaching of Dr. Chuck Missler, and really have an aversion to being preached to by someone wearing a $7,000 Armani suit, or costumes of scarlet robes, sashes and accoutrements, a “Dagon fishmouth headpiece”, and such.
As to “vandalism of other’s property”, NEVER is this appropriate, and the original article only implied that islam could have been responsible; it is more likely a stab at organized Christianity by unread mouthbreathers, the kind that don’t know Lincoln “Emancipated” the slaves, and think they’ll get their Socialism by combining with islam. I am probably already a “target” of islam, as are most of us here. They can lop off my head as it pleases them, I’ll not “convert”. Concerning islam and art, islam HAS no art; Praise the Lord that Charles Martel was successful at Tours in 732, or there would be no Mozart, Bach or Haydn.
Mary might be revered in the Catholic Church, and of course she should be, by ALL Christians, but that’s as far as it should go. As for her statue, kneeling before it and praying, “Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us now and at the hour etc., etc.”, well, if that doesn’t constitute a kind of idolatry, then what does? Mary cannot Pray for us; she is dead, and she cannot intercede for us, nor is it even possible, and she can play no part in our Salvation. Mary cannot “Hear” prayer from us, only God the Father can hear, and only if the prayer glorifies Him in the end. Prayer to God the Father “to win the Lottery”, falls on deaf ears. I do believe that’s a Biblical Truth.
gravenimage says
OK, owensgate.
And I live in a very blue state, and I can tell you that Leftists, whatever their own ugliness, are *not* running around condemning Catholics or other Christians as idolaters–this is very much a Muslim thing.
Patrick says
Look across the ocean at the UK, France, Austria, Africa, one sees the same thing happening, has been for years, is amplified due to massive jihad immigration. You have jihad of money, jihad inner struggle, jihad immigration, jihad of the sword, persuasion jihad, not a Holywar but, a struggle. In all cases, Muslims are the victim. Islamophobe conveniently places as the victim. Speak the truth about Islam, get your head chopped off. We’re all kafirs, non-Muslim, enemies of Islam but, the Democrats, leftists, Socialists, Marxist all pal up to Islam/Muslims because totalitarianism is a common goal. The Democrats want to get rid of Conservatives and so do the other totalitarian worshipers! It’s US against THEM! It’s a Constitutional Republic vs Totalitarianism/Death of America.
Keys says
Man oh man, that looked like it could have been Linda Sarsour to me !
But, then again, it could have been a look alike. So many “dress” alike, you know.
What color purse does Sarsour have ?
gravenimage says
New York City: “IDOL” painted on 100-year-old statue of Virgin Mary
………………
Almost certainly Jihad.
Kepha says
Being a Protestant “fundamentalist” who thinks such a statue is idolatry, I still respect someone else’s property.
My guess is that a Muslim would probably smash the thing. Spray-painting makes me guess we’ve got antifa at work.
gravenimage says
I don’t think that Antifa cares about “idols”.
CogitoErgoSum says
More likely that they would have spray painted the F-word on it. It was everywhere in Chaz/Chop.
gravenimage says
That sounds right, CogitoErgoSum.
Wellington says
Gee, Kepha, do you actually think of Michelangelo’s Pieta as an idol? And what of the sculptures on the exteriors and interiors of major Gothic churches?
gravenimage says
+1
RichardL says
Kepha, as a conservative Catholic I admire your sentiment. I find it terrible if Christians here on JW attack each other. We have a common enemy: islam. There are website that cater to theological disputes and people should have their discussions there.
gravenimage says
I could not agree more, Richard. Islam threatens *all* of us.
SKA says
Or a Muslimah who lacks the physical strength to Heft a sledge-hammer . . .
tgusa says
The American taliban is rampaging through democrat cities and no democrat official has the spine to put an end to it. This is what you get if you vote democrat. No wonder those places are such horrible places to live. Even the crats allies hate the place.
Eur says
Would Muslims dare to do the same with Native American totems?
wpm says
If given the chance and more important if the Native American totems were as popular as Christian statues and churches in major cities yes.The Muslims attack and destroy African non-Christian sites and people,Indian Hindus,and Asian Buddhist sites and people with great zeal if they get the chance. They will even enslave or kill Atheist or Communist if they will not submit to Islam in the end.With all “non-believers” out of the way they kill each other off because of the different Islamic branches have no tolerance or willing to accept let the “other ” live in peace and equal footing with the “true ” Islamic faith whatever the head ,head banger is in charge says goes .
SKA says
Why would they respect the totem-poles of the Native Americans? Where have the Saracens ever respected any religious-cultural vestige of any non-Islamic faith? Who originally broke off the nose of Abdul Houl (the Sphinx)? According to Egyptian tradition it was a mad Sufi.
.Bridgette says
What do they call the muslim vagina they circle around in the kabba? Vile people.
abad says
A certain group of people is having serious issues with statues in America right now.
And no, it is NOT Black Lives Matter.
Mr K.Wade says
On another point, if someone wants to worship or venerate idols it is there right to. Neither Islam or any Christian has the right to deny such, violence in deeds and words withstanding. My view is that iconography is an important artistic expression, and I’m an atheist. Some of the best music was written for the church, some of the best art also. But history, as Dr Spenser has pointed out, is not the strong point of monument vandals.
gravenimage says
Agreed.