Augusta Church Vandalized With Anti-Semitic Symbols

Caption

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Augusta in 2013.

The pastor of a Unitarian Universalist church in Augusta would like to meet the vandals who graffitied the church recently in what he calls an act of terrorism.  

“We’ve even offered to the people who have done it, you can come talk to us. You can come to a service and see who we are,” said Don Cameron, interim minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Augusta.  

Over the weekend, church members found the words “God will not be mocked” spray painted twice on the church building, along with two Stars of David crossed out with a black stripe.  

Cameron said members of other faith communities have begun to reach out in the wake of the vandalism, the likes of which he has never experienced in his 33 years as a Unitarian minister.  

“There's been a lot of reach out and not only locally, nationally,” Cameron said. That began even on the Sunday the graffiti was discovered.  

“Well, actually, during the Sunday service, a retired rabbi came. He's part of the interfaith group that we're part of, a liberal interfaith group,” Cameron said.  

Cameron wonders if the vandalism was inspired by the planned sermon that Sunday, titled Religion of an Atheist. He of course he said he has no way of knowing. Meanwhile, he said his congregation’s response to the vandalism surprised him.  

“The congregation is not scared, not angry,” Cameron said. “We see it as an affirmation of who we are and why we're here. And we just hope to continue to help make Augusta a better place to live.”

A local pressure-washing business has already offered to clean the graffiti for free. The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office is investigating.  

Another Augusta church, the Metropolitan Community Church of Our Redeemer, was vandalized in 2015 after its pastor and his partner became the first people in Richmond County to obtain a same sex marriage license.