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By Erik Alsgaard
UMCONNECTION STAFF

On a bright, unusually warm Jan. 12, members of the St. Marks UMC in Boyds, church leaders, Montgomery County officials and a candidate for governor of Maryland stood on the front steps of the church to see what Paul Hawkins had found there.

What he found has sent a chill through a community and brought people together to stand up to racism and hate crimes.

What Hawkins found was a swastika.

The Nazi symbol was spray-painted on the front door of the St. Marks church sometime on Jan. 10, in broad daylight. According to Florence Phillips, who has been a member of the church located in rural southwest Montgomery County for more than 60 years, she went for a walk by the church with her grandson around 1:30 that afternoon and the church doors were normal. Hawkins reported the swastika later, around 4:30 p.m.

'It?s kind of a sad situation,' said Phillips, 'but we will overcome.'

NOTE: to report a hate crime, contact the Maryland Hate Crimes Hotline at (800) 637-6247. More information on hate crimes is available here.

At a press conference held on the front steps of the church, with the swastika clearly seen on the front door, the Rev. Tim Warner, pastor of St. Marks, thanked the many church members, conference clergy and community leaders who had come to be in support of his congregation and community.

'We consider this to be a desecration of holy space,' said Warner. He said that some people?s immediate reaction to the graffiti was to paint over it or hide it. Warner said no; what the church must do is 'shine a light on it,' to show everyone that sin exists in the world.

Bishop John R. Schol, who spoke at the press conference, said that Christians should not, and United Methodists will not, tolerate racism.

'We are not intimidated,' the bishop said. 'We will not move; we are here to stay.'

The bishop urged all congregations in the conference to send a representative to St. Marks on Sunday, Jan. 15, to stand with the congregation during it?s 8 a.m. worship service which was followed by church members and youth erasing the symbol.

Bishop Schol called upon all pastors of the Baltimore-Washington Conference and all religious leaders across Maryland to explain, teach and preach to their faith groups that racism is a sin and not to be tolerated.

He also had a word for parents.

'We need to teach our children and youth about racism,' he said. 'We need to teach them how to relate and engage with one another, regardless of who they are or where they come from.'

For the Rev. Mark Derby, superintendent of the Washington West District which includes St. Marks, this was a day for the church to show how disciples of Jesus Christ behave.

'If those who perpetrated this crime were to walk in the front door of this church, they?d be received in the love of Jesus Christ,' he said. 'We stand with the church and affirm its ministry to the congregation, neighbors and community.'

In addition to the swastika spray-painted on St. Marks? front doors, the nearby Boyds Negro School also was targeted. Other hate symbols were painted the same day on two schools in Montgomery County and one other African American church.

Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan, a candidate for governor in Maryland, also spoke at the press conference.

'We are sadly gathered here today,' he said. 'We will not stand idly by in the midst of hate mongers.'

Duncan said that law enforcement officials do not consider these acts mere pranks.

'We consider these to be acts of hate, hurtful to the entire community,' he said. He and other speakers said that whoever committed these crimes, if convicted, would be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

Another who spoke was Chief of Police for Montgomery County, J. Thomas Manger. He said the crimes committed against St. Marks may be linked to a splinter group of the White Aryan Nation known as 'W.A.R.,' or White Aryan Resistance. The three initials were found at the two schools amid the hate crimes. W.A.R., he said, spreads its hate through its Web site and that the tactics used in these hate crimes resemble what he called a 'lone wolf type of tactic.'

'This group has a lot of history behind it, a lot of violence, a lot of connections. We don?t know yet if this is connected to them, but we?re concerned,' he said.

Manger said the recent hate crime activity in his jurisdiction - several Hanukkah displays in Gaithersburg and Rockville fell victim to hate crimes in late December - was a 'spike we haven?t seen in a few years.' Last year, he said, 47 hate crimes were reported to police. The year before that, 40 were reported.

Following the press conference, the leaders marched from the church to the Negro School to examine the damage done to the building and the lawn.

Warner said that he doesn?t know why anyone would do what they did to St. Marks, but he has an idea. In the last 18 months, under Warner?s leadership, the church has experienced growth in the community.

'This type of thing,' he said, 'wasn?t happening when there were only two cars in the parking lot.'