Teresa Boeckel

tboeckel@ydr.com

A Dallastown pastor said his church has received hangup phone calls after a Spring Grove Area school board member took issue with the church's sign wishing a blessed Ramadan to its Muslim neighbors and posted a photo of the sign on social media.

Matthew Jansen, who is an elected delegate to the Republican National Convention, left a message on the Rev. Christopher Rodkey's voicemail last weekend that he was shocked to see the sign in front of St. Paul's United Church of Christ.

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In the message, he called Islam "godless" and called the sign "despicable."

"It is unbelievable that ... you would wish them a blessed Ramadan," he said in the message. He also said he would post a picture on social media so everyone could see it. His post included the church's phone number.

Jansen said Friday that he snapped in the voicemail message and realized that he did not identify himself. He later called the church to leave his name and phone number. He said he was not trying to do something that was intimidating, and he wanted to confront it.

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Rodkey said Friday that he did not return Jansen's phone call, saying he doesn't know what good would come of a conversation at this point.

Rodkey said he posted the message on the sign because he thinks Muslims in the community are the favored scapegoat of the religious right.

"This is a church that is interested in religious tolerance," he said.

The pastor said he did receive a letter of support for the sign from someone outside of the church.

Rodkey described Jansen's message as "very angry and misinformed." The pastor also read some of Jansen's views posted on Twitter, and said he's surprised Jansen serves on a school board.

Jansen said he has driven past the church many times and has seen "disturbing things" on its sign, but this one "was over the top as far, as I was concerned." To him, Jansen said, the message was "blasphemous."

"If you want to have a conversation, I'll certainly engage you in one," he said.

"I don't see Islam — or the Muslim belief — I don't see it as legit," he said.

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He said the day after he left the message for the pastor, 49 people were killed "by radical Islamists." Police have said that one man killed the people in Orlando.

He also said he thinks the United States has a flawed immigration system, and he is an unapologetic Donald Trump supporter.

Rodkey wrote a letter to the editor about the voicemail message and expressed his concern about where society is. "Celebrating the founding fathers and Constitution of our country in one breath but targeting and publicly condemning a particular religious group is seen as consistent, courageous and acceptable," he wrote.

"The phobia is Islamophobia," he said.

Rodkey said he called the York County Republican Committee, and the pastor said he was told that Jansen's position was not the position of the Republican committee. The chairman of the local Republican committee could not be reached for comment Friday evening.

Rodkey said he also called the Spring Grove Area School District about Jansen's message. The president and vice-president of the school board could not be reached for comment Friday evening.

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