In late February, “unknown persons” invaded Mar Elias, an ancient Maronite church in Bekaa, Lebanon. Along with damaging one of the church’s windows, they destroyed a portion of the flooring, as they dug a large hole near the altar (see pictures below).
According to Maronite Bishop Joseph Mouwad, much of the church’s sacred items were left intact and not stolen. Instead, “they broke the tiles and dug the ground, apparently looking for something, though we do not know what.”
Fingerprints and cigarette butts were found.
Looked for their IQ test results.
Looking for treasure, no doubt. Why they chose this spot when there are so many other places to dig, I can’t fathom; who told them to dig there and what exactly did they expect to find? Muslims can’t understand why they are poor and why non-Muslim communities prosper so they engage in magical thinking: “They must have treasure!!!”.
I’ve been thinking about this one and now I can fathom – and it’s not good! The missing piece of the story must be that a Christian was kidnapped and tortured. What happened to the Christian or person supplying information? I can only hope that he or she escaped because, obviously, no one stopped these guys from smashing through the concrete floor and digging up the church.