Vandals tear a Bible in half, ransack Old West Church

The vandals who hit the historic Old West Church in Boston spared little.

The church's beloved old pulpit Bible was torn in half. Its hymnals were violently scattered about the sanctuary. Four old paintings of previous pastors were ripped from the walls and torn. A 5-foot tall painting of Jesus on the Cross was slashed.

The church's pastor, The Rev. Laurel Scott, led a cleanup of the mess yesterday and vowed to carry on.

``My approach is: We live in this kind of world, and these things will happen," she said. ``There's no reason to think we'll be exempt. The real question is how we handle it and go forward."

Boston police said they had no suspects in the vandalism, which occurred around 7:30 a.m. on Thursday. However, Scott said police told her that fingerprints were found all over the crime scene, and investigators worked yesterday to trace them while also appealing to the public for help. Nothing was stolen from the church on Cambridge Street.

The Old West Church has been celebrating its 200th year in its current building jus t near Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston's West End. In a previous incarnation, the church offered an important soap box to American revolutionary activists. The phrase ``no taxation without representation" was coined there by clergyman Jonathan Mayhew. Later, the church played a role in the Underground Railroad that shepherded slaves to freedom, Scott said.

Charles Lowell of the famous Brahmin family preached there, and author Louisa May Alcott and legendary Harvard president Charles Eliot attended Sunday school there, according to the church's history detailed on its website.

Scott speculated that the vandals -- the extent of damage, she said, suggests more than one culprit -- stowed away in the church overnight, then unleashed their fury as they departed in the morning. There was no evidence they had targeted the church in particular or sought to send an anti-Christian message, said Scott, though she said she can't say for sure what drove them.

``These were frustrated and very angry people," she said.

The church is also used on Sundays by a predominately gay and lesbian congregation from another church, the Metropolitan Community Church of Boston. The pastor there, the Rev. Michael Cooper, said he does not suspect a hate crime.

``We are very much aware of violence against our churches and the homophobia against our society," he said. ``There hasn't been any indication that this was targeted to any particular church."

A Boston police spokesman said that the incident was not being investigated as a hate crime, but that that could change.

``It will be investigated in terms of any and all avenues, so that's a posssibility," said David Estrada.

Staff at the daycare in the church's basement heard thumping and clattering from about 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Thursday. They dismissed it, thinking people were just moving furniture, Scott said. Later in the morning, a visiting organist showed up to practice and caught the first glimpse of the mess and quickly called police and Scott.

``It was total disarray," she said, adding that the church had not yet calculated a dollar value for the damage.

It seemed as if a cyclone had passed through: Bibles and hymnals and church brochures were scattered to every corner. Paintings lay slashed on the ground. Plaster columns were broken. But it was the pulpit Bible used in Sunday services, ripped in half and left on the floor, that caught Scott's attention.

``That will have to be restored," she said,

The church has contacted conservators to inquire about fixing and restoring the damaged Bible and paintings. Scott, well versed in the Old West's history, explained: ``More than a dollar value, it's the historical legacy to the church. That's what I'm concerned about."

She said Boston police conducted an appropriately sensitive cleanup, aided by church members.

Today, the church houses a small but dedicated United Methodist congregation of 65 people, many of whom rushed to the church after the grim news spread Thursday afternoon and spent yesterday cleaning up the mess.

Shirley Thatcher, 81, of Boston, a longtime church member, was among those tidying up yesterday.

``So much had been done before I got here, but naturally I feel badly," she said. ``How could someone rip up a Bible?"

But with the cleanup largely done by yesterday evening, Scott said services will go on as planned this weekend.

``I'm a person of faith," she said. ``It really didn't shake me."