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Philippine Showbiz Today
November 8 - 21, 2018
Jan. 22-Feb.7, 2015
Iglesia Ni Cristo
Homemade bombs thrown at INC Church in the US
A church in Seattle belonging
to the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) was the
victim of a possible hate crime on
October 18, 2018, as homemade
Molotov cocktails were thrown at
the church, causing a fire during
a church service attended by over
250 people.
According to a statement by
the Seattle Police Department,
“witnesses began calling 911 just
after 8 p.m. Thursday to report a
fire at a church in the 7100 block
of 42 Avenue South. The Seattle
Fire Department responded to
the scene and arrived after the fire
had already been extinguished.”
While no one was injured,
Seattle police last October 23
arrested a man in his 30s, after
police released surveillance photos
of a man believed to have thrown
Molotov cocktails at the church
while services were ongoing.
The Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) is assisting
Seattle police in the investigation
and is evaluating evidence to
determine whether the incident
was a hate crime. A spokesperson
for the FBI stressed that they “will
review the evidence to evaluate
whether any federal violations
occurred, including hate crimes.”
The INC has more than
Police released this surveillance-video photo of the arson suspect on October 18, 2018,
bombing the Iglesia Ni Cristo church in Seattle. (Photo: Seattle Police Department)
3,000 churches worldwide. The
first INC church in the US was
established in Hawaii 50 years
ago, and since then it has steadily
expanded, establishing itself in
North America as well as in many
parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, the
Middle East, Australia and New
Zealand.
Seattle police and investigators hastily cordoned off the bombing incident (Photo: King5).
The homegrown church
announced that twenty-two new
chapels have been dedicated in
the continental US and Canada
for July, August, September this
year. Its activities abroad include
the “Lingap sa Mamamayan,”
the INC’s local and international
outreach program. It recently
conducted
several
outreach
activities for migrants, religious
minorities, elderly and the youth
in various locations in Toronto
and Winnipeg in Canada, realizing
a longtime goal of INC Executive
Minister Eduardo V. Manalo to
“positively reach out and extend
blessings to those in need in the
Northern part of the American
continent.”
The attack in Seattle is one
of a number of incidents that the
INC has suffered.
In Canada, the church has
endured online attacks from
expelled former member Lowell
Menorca II.
Menorca, who is now based
in the Metro Vancouver area,
is working with another former
expelled member Rovic Canono,
also living the region, to vilify the
church.
Going back to the Seattle
incident, the arrested suspect has
made his first court appearance.
A judge found probable
cause to hold the suspect on
investigation
of
first-degree
arson and attempted first-degree
assault, according to King County
prosecutors. ●
Local TV news broadcast the aftermath of the bomb damage to the church facade.