Homeless Man Busted for Threatening to 'Blow Up Church' and 'Kill Christians'
A homeless man was arrested for a hate crime after he broke into an interdenominational church and threatened to shoot all Christians. The incident happened during Memorial Day on Monday 6:36 p.m. at Times Square Church on 237 W. 51st St. in Midtown.
According to the police report, perpetrator Noel Droni, 37, of Brooklyn passed by and chanced upon a man sitting outside the church. Droni asked if he is Christian, and when the guy answered "Yes, I am," the suspect pulled out a wrench from his backpack and swung it at the glass door
Droni shouted "Allahur akbar," Arabic for "God is great," while smashing the glass. He also threatened to come back and kill the entire congregation. "I am going to blow up the church and come back and kill any Christians," he said. The suspect was arrested 20 minutes later.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
He was charged with criminal mischief and held on $1,000 bail. The case appeared to be an isolated incident and comes at a time when U.S. citizens are warming up to Muslims. A 2017 survey by Pew Research Center revealed that Americans' view towards followers of Islam moved from cool to neutral.
Conducted last Jan. 9–23, the survey was part of an overall study on American adults' perception of different religions. This was gauged using a "feeling thermometer" from 0 to 100 degrees, where 0 reflected the coldest, most negative rating and 100 as the warmest and most positive.
Overall, Americans gave Muslims an average rating of 48 degrees, slightly lower than atheists' 50 degrees. The view towards Muslims has become warmer compared to the 40 degrees they received from Americans in the same survey in 2014. This is so despite the acts of violence committed by extremist groups in the name of Islam.
Americans' perception to most religions has generally improved, with Catholics and Jews still receiving the warmest ratings at 68 degrees and 69 degrees, respectively. Evangelical Christians rated relatively warmer at 61 degrees. Other major religions also rated positively including mainline Protestants, Buddhists, Hindus and Mormons.
