An unknown offender set fire to the St. John’s Assyrian American Apostolic Church, 1421 W. Lawrence Ave., at 4 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 23.
No one was injured in the blaze, which firefighters contained fairly quickly, but WGN News reported that the damage may be as high as $200,000.
Police detectives said wads of paper had apparently been pushed through the mail slot into a basket meant for catching mail. No suspects were in custody Tuesday, and no witnesses had come forward with information. “We’d appreciate any assistance [from witnesses],” said Sgt. Roger Elmer of the Chicago Police bomb and arson section.
Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Chicago has seen a rash of hate crimes against people perceived to be Arabs or Muslims—thirteen incidents, according to police.
St. John’s pastor, 70-year-old Rev. Charles Kluetz, said he hoped it wasn’t a hate crime, but admitted that it seemed likely. “I do know we’ve received threats,” he said. Kluetz paraphrased a letter received by an affiliated church in suburban Roselle: “‘Which side are you on? Our side or theirs?’”
Kluetz—who is Portuguese but whose profile might pass for German or Scandinavian—said a lot of his members are convinced the arson may well be a hate crime based on their Middle Eastern heritage and features. While many of the 100 families in his church do still speak an Assyrian dialect, most are American-born and speak English well—and of course, they are Christians. “We are Americans, period,” Kluetz said.
Assyria, once a world-ruling empire, is located in the area now occupied by Iraq. “They were the people Abraham came from,” Kluetz said, adding that the prophet Jonah—famous for being swallowed by a giant fish—was sent to preach to the people of Nineveh, Assyria’s capital city.
“It’s unfortunate we had to be burned,” said Kleutz. He said office equipment was “burned to a crisp.”
“My office really was shot. My books are all pretty well smoked up. [There’s] soot all over them. But I won’t throw away any of my books—they’re valuable to me.”
Sgt. Elmer confirmed that smoke and water from fire hoses probably did more damage to the building than the fire.
But Kluetz said that had firefighters been a few minutes late, the entire building would have been lost anyway. He also praised the police for being “very gracious.” He’s still not sure whether the building will be open for worship this Sunday.
Of the arsonist, Kluetz said: “I just assume that somebody was in a state of madness. I just think some guy was mad at the world, mad at God and everything else.”
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