The current cover photo on the Community UU Church of Plano’s Facebook page
The front doors of Community Unitarian Universalist Church of Plano, 2875 E. Parker Road, which church officials say has been targeted by a hate group since at least June 25, were damaged early Sunday, July 23, in a firebomb attack, according to reports in the Dallas Morning News.
The church went ahead with Sunday services as usual despite the attack, with extra security provided by Plano police.
A police spokesperson told Dallas Morning News they could not confirm whether the firebomb attack was a hate crime. The church’s current Facebook cover photo speaks to LGBTQ equality, and a photo posted previously to social media show the church flying the rainbow flag from its sign alongside the U.S. flag.
Unitarian Universalist church are traditionally very progressive and very welcoming to LGBTQ people.
According to a post on the church’s Facebook page, sometime between midnight at 12:30 a.m., someone either threw “an incendiary device with a chemical accelerant” at the church’s front doors or walked up and placed the device there. The fire and smoke from the device set off the church’s monitored alarms, which notified church personnel. About the same time, a passerby saw the blaze and called 911.
“Because of the quick action of Plano’s first responders, the damage to the church property was limited to the front doors, the materials directly outside the front doors and the entrance foyer,” the church’s Facebook post noted. “There were no injuries.”
The post continues, “Church officials have been reviewing building security and working with the Plano Police Department since the intrusion of a hate group in the church building during and after Worship Service on Sunday, June 25. That group has posted video of their activities inside the church on various social media sites.”
— Tammye Nash
