it's not the case that this church is setting up peacefully and that it's followers are harmlessly going about their daily lives. this is a meeting point for people with discriminatory and hateful views, who will go out into the community and act those ideas out. this idea of religion as peaceful expression must be challenged. it's just simply not accurate. religion is systemic and hierarchical. it seeks power. it spreads propaganda. it's a political threat to the area and must be treated that way.

free speech is not protected speech. no sane person would suggest that people ought to be able to speak their mind without social consequences; the idea is that people ought to have the right to make the decision on whether it's worth taking the risk or not. these types of christian groups are taking a risk in spreading hateful messaging, and ought to deal with the consequences of it.

i do support the vandalism as a political statement, but it's only a first step. the next step needs to be boycotts against church members and other political actions designed to reduce their influence in the community and run them out of town.

it sounds harsh and it's against certain liberal values that are embedded in our cultural psyche, but we have to collectively understand that there is no peace with religion and allowing it to build is just ceding ground to enemy forces.