Church Vandal Apprehended, Released

Police in Akureyri apprehended a suspect charged with vandalising a series of churches with epithets and slogans Tuesday night.

RÚV reports that police arrested a man in his twenties at his home yesterday, suspected of having spray-painted “Hegelian dialectic” amongst other epithets on seven different churches in Akureyri on Tuesday night. He gave himself up peacefully and was charged with vandalism before being released.

Police say the man’s crime was motivated by his opinions of religion. He has no criminal record and has not had dealings with the police before. Investigators say the man worked alone in his crime spree, and traveled between churches by bicycle.

As reported, Svavar Alfreð Jónsson posted photographic evidence of vandalism done to Akureyri’s main Lutheran church last night.

Upon further investigation, RÚV discovered that in fact several churches in Akureyri got tagged.

Some of the tags were of the garden variety, such as “RELIGION = SLAVERY”, but others were more obscure. As can be seen, the tag HEGELIAN DIALECTIC was tagged on at least two different churches.

For the unaware, Hegelian dialectic is a complex philosophical concept that is fundamental to Marx’s dialectical materialism. In its abridged form, it suggests that a problem (thesis) and its response (antithesis) work as a kind of feedback loop until the solution (synthesis) is achieved and no antithesis is possible.