Vandals claiming membership in the Klu Klux Klan burnt a cross in front of St Luke’s Church in Durham, N.C., as well as two other locations in the city on May 25. The crosses, each seven feet tall and four feet wide were wrapped in burlap, doused with flammable liquid and ignited in high traffic areas. Klu Klux Klan leaflets threatening action against street gangs were found by police at one site. FBI agents along with state and local authorities are investigating.

The first burning cross was reported to police at 9:19 p.m. outside St. Luke’s on a spur of public land overlooking Interstate 85. The second report of a cross burning at a construction site was phoned in to police at 9:54 p.m. The final report came at 10:38 p.m. of a cross burning at a downtown intersection near Martin Luther King Boulevard, leaflets claiming credit for the burnings for the KKK were found after the third fire.

The church’s senior warden, Bill Gutknecht, told THE LIVING CHURCH he did not believe St. Luke’s was being targeted, saying the cross burning took place on a patch of ground between the church and the interstate. “We see this as being an attack on Durham,” he said. Mr. Gutknecht also did not believe there was any connection between the cross burning and an incident on May 8, in which the Rev. Fred Phelps, his family and members of his Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church picketed St. Luke’s and six other Durham churches.

Mr. Gutknecht said he was encouraged by the response of the Durham community. More than 600 people joined a memorial service the following night at the site of the three burnings, protesting the assault on the church and community.

The Bishop of North Carolina, Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, told TLC “a burning cross is a symbol of hatred, of fear, of bigotry, of evil. Someone intended to send that message. Instead, a spirit of goodness and human decency was ignited. People of good will and of all faiths and races in Durham and elsewhere are standing up in response, with a message of goodness, compassion and justice.” Bishop Curry celebrated Holy Eucharist at St. Luke’s earlier today.

To go to the home page for St. Luke’s, Durham, N.C., click here:

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