Will church apologize to Trump supporters?

Will church apologize to Trump supporters?

Someone sprayed a swastika, "Fag Church," and "Heil Trump" on St. David’s Episcopal Church in Bean Blossom, Indiana, on November 12, a few days after the presidential election. Rev. Rev. Kelsey Hutto, who reported this to police, said the vandalism was backlash to gay weddings.

“Well, we must be doing something right. We stated one time that doing the right thing was not always the popular thing. We were targeted for a reason, and in our mind it was for a good reason,” Hutto told CBS.

The plucky church did not remove the spray-painted messages, but displayed them with pride.

From the Washington Post on November 15:

“At first I was a little disheartened,” Hutto said. “Saint David’s has been very active in our community and to find that is hurtful.”

But, Hutto said, she also thought the church was probably targeted for a reason: because it strives to be inclusive and welcoming. The church’s presiding bishop has said that sometimes doing the right thing is not always the popular thing, she added.

“And so I’m taking comfort in that, and I’m trying to make sure that my congregation takes comfort in that as well,” Hutto said. “There were conversations about trying to cover everything up, but in the end, we decided that we’re proud.

“We’re proud of being targeted for the reason that we were targeted for, at least in which we think we were targeted for, which is being inclusive.”

But officials in Brown County, where the church is, investigated and discovered the vandalism came from a church official -- a gay church official -- in a passive-aggressive attack on President Trump and the 65 million people who elected him president.

From the Indianapolis Star:

Brown County Prosecutor Ted Adams on Wednesday filed a misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief against George Nathaniel "Nathan" Stang, 26, Bloomington, accusing him of vandalizing the church.

Stang though, is a gay man himself, he told IndyStar. He said he did not vandalize the church out of hate, but rather, out of a misguided attempt to spur people to action after the election left him afraid for his future.

"Over the course of that week, I was fearful, scared and alone, too, in my fear," Stang told IndyStar. "I guess one of the driving factors behind me committing the act was that I wanted other people to be scared with me.

Hutto did not immediately fire Stang, however.

"Nathan is a member of our St. David's family and naturally there is a certain amount of betrayal with this act," Hutto wrote on Facebook. "Over the coming weeks and days we will process our emotions regarding this hurtful act."

That is nice. A Christian church is in the business of forgiveness -- none of us get to heaven without the grace of God.

But how about an apology to Trump supporters? After all, they were maligned by this and other false cries of hate crimes by people like Nathan Stang who are filled with so much hate that they would fabricate elaborate hoaxes like this and bear false witness.

The damage was not to the church, but rather to Trump's supporters who are not the Nazis the church official tried to portray them as.