Man Sorry For Dowsing Jesus Statue With Gas and Setting It On Fire

[matcom]

<snip>

REDWOOD CITY -- Matthew McCoy is a personable 26-year-old who has spent the past year in jail for committing a strange and upsetting crime: He walked into the courtyard of a Catholic church in San Bruno, doused a statue of Jesus with gasoline and set it on fire.

McCoy is getting out in about a month. He insists his outrageous act was not meant as a sacrilege, and says he won't do it again.

"It was because of a woman," he said Tuesday in the Maguire Correctional Facility in Redwood City.

On Tuesday, Judge Craig Parsons sentenced McCoy -- who pleaded no contest to arson after his November 2003 arrest -- to one year in the County jail. He also gave McCoy 327 days credit for his work in the jail and time served. Finally, the judge put McCoy on probation for three years and ordered him to pay $3,748 to St. Bruno's Church for the destroyed statue.

http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413,87~11268~2229663,00.html

[GOPisEvil]

1. Wait a second...unfamiliar with Jesus wearing a crown of thorns?

And he was supposedly a religious person?!?! WTF?!?!

Uh, good luck Matthew...

[sniffa]

2. barkeep, i'LL have a "fLaming jesus"

[matcom]

4. and a beer chaser

:bounce:

[hlthe2b]

3. Well, i hope he does get some

psychological help--regardless of whether this was all excuse driven rhetoric or not.

I have to admit being relieved that this was not someone directing frustration at the church based on the misdeeds of the "xian right." I've been worried for some time that frustration with fundies might extend to a backlash against all forms of Christianity.

[qb]

5. Jeez, a year seems excessive for burning a $3700 statue.

A couple of months and community service sounds more reasonable. Then again, I'm an atheist and not particularly offended by burning Jesuses.

[acmavm]

6. A woman made me do it. Jeez, this crappy excuse started with Eve

and has been going on ever since.

[DrWeird]

7. Isn't that the proper method for disposing of used Jesuses?

It's right there in my "Manual for Care and Maintenance of Your Jesus."

[supernova]

8. I see it as a way to discourage him

from graduating from statues to buildings, possibly with people in them. It's a good thing it was the statue and not the church building.