Fliers put on vehicles at church target gays, female clergy

Police are investigating fliers with hateful messages left during recent Sunday services on church-goers' vehicles in Rehoboth Beach, but say the incident does not rise to hate crime status.

The fliers – with "No heaven for homos" scrawled across the top of the first of their three pages – were placed on vehicles in the parking lot of All Saints Episcopal Church in the first block of Olive Avenue while parishioners attended 10 a.m. services on July 26, police Chief Keith W. Banks said.

Although the fliers violate a city ordinance against distributing leaflets as a litter offense, Banks said they contain no specific or implied threat of violence, so they and their distribution are not a hate crime.

Even though any penalty would be a minor fine if the fliers' distributor is identified, Banks said, "we're taking this very seriously."

So is the Rev. Max J. Wolf, church rector.

"Local police didn't say it was a hate crime," Wolf said, "but it feels like a hate crime to our members."

When they found the fliers, he said, "some people were crying. ... Others talked to me about it when they went home and read them [the fliers] and were horrified."

The hateful message reopened old wounds for "some members of the church who have been rejected for decades," he said.

The photocopied pages have large blocks of text including Bible verses and diatribes against homosexuality, female church leadership and former Episcopal Bishop Heather Elizabeth Cook and Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.

The margins and spaces between type blocks are crammed with writing in all capital letters, saying such things as "hell is a real place," "would you like transexual + vestite teaching Sunday school to your children," and "God does not dwell in the Episcopal Church."

The Episcopal Church, Wolf counters, is one that welcomes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, as well as believing in gender equality, ordaining women and allowing same-sex marriages.

As word has spread about the fliers, Wolf said support has emerged in the form of "incredible numbers of emails, texts, calls. ... People have just been so affirming of who we are."

Some supporters have told him the fliers' diatribe reminded them that "this is why we come to All Saints, because you welcome everybody," he said.

The support has reflected the church community itself – conservative and liberal, Republican and Democrat, young and old, gay and straight – as well as the changing times and changing minds that have moved toward equal opportunity and equal rights, he said.

"I thank God the Episcopal Church embraces those rights," Wolf said.

"The reaction is so positive, it shows how much we have evolved on these issues," he said. He also spoke of the contribution of LGBT community members among military personnel, whose contribution, like after World War II, is seen when people acknowledge that gay and lesbian veterans risked their lives for the nation and deserve the same rights as other veterans.

"I feel blessed to be participating in these changes in history," he added.

Wolf said his message to whoever left the fliers would be that he understands that "change is stressful, but the most important thing is to love God and love your neighbor."

After police were contacted about the fliers left at the church, the chief said, he talked to someone he knew had seen such messages before.

That is Steve Elkins, executive director of CAMP Rehoboth, a nonprofit group dedicated to promoting community cooperation and understanding among all groups.

As he discussed with police, Elkins said, such fliers have surfaced before, in various forms, in both the LGBT and faith communities.

"It's an anonymous letter that we've gotten over the years," he said.

The fliers have been distributed at other Delaware churches, he said, and sent directly to CAMP Rehoboth, apparently by the same person.

The missives consistently blast the LGBT community as well as churches that welcome its members, perform same-sex arriages and/or allow female church leadership, Elkins said.

"We're all gonna die and go to hell," he said.

Such fliers also were distributed repeatedly over the years at Epworth United Methodist Church, which he attends, Elkins said.

That stopped about six years ago, however, when the church moved from Baltimore Avenue in Rehoboth Beach to a suburban location on Holland Glade Road right off Coastal Highway (Del. 1), he said.

Among copies sent to CAMP Rehoboth over the years, he said, just one several years ago had a return address – in Bethany Beach.

"So I looked up a phone number and I called," he said. "When I said, 'I got a letter...,' they hung up immediately."

Elkins said he tries to keep such tirades in perspective, considering them "part of living in a community that's accepting to all," including those who would write and distribute such drivel.

"Thank goodness we do have freedom of speech," he said. "We celebrate that people can say whatever they want."

But at the same time, he said, it is disappointing to see such energy devoted to a hateful message instead of living the Gospel lesson of loving others.

"We've got too many people who are hungry, too many people who are sick, too many people who are in jail," he said, adding he would prefer to see community messages and action working to alleviate suffering by helping those in need.

Contact robin brown at (302) 324-2856 or rbrown@delawareonline.com. Find her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @rbrowndelaware.

TIPS SOUGHT

Rehoboth Beach Chief of Police Keith W. Banks says anyone with information about the source of fliers distributed on cars July 26 at All Saints Episcopal Church is asked to call city police at (302) 227-2577.