Maidan said she doesn’t want to overstate what happened, as the message was not violent or threatening, but did not want to understate the harmful message the graffiti represented.

The Rev. Joe Greemore of First Baptist Church in Waterloo was also conflicted by the symbols and its message.

“As a professing follower of Jesus, it felt strange to me — and speaking about genuinely how we felt — to erase the sign of the cross of the name of Jesus from these hallowed synagogue walls. How was I supposed to feel about that?” Greemore said.

He said he “felt the tension” and “was captive to the struggle” between supporting a message of love and hope and an act of belligerence and cultural dominance.

“I just see some major inconsistencies with the writing on the wall outside and the nature of Christianity as it ought to be,” Greemore said.

Greemore built on comments made by the Rev. Wendi Gillan of St. Timothy’s United Methodist Church. She admitted when she heard about the vandalism “First I cried, and then I cursed.”