Church in nation's capital seeks to remove plaque dedicated to J Edgar Hoover
A church in Washington, D.C., has decided to remove a plaque from their sanctuary that was dedicated to former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover due to his checkered history on race issues.
In 1966, Capitol Hill United Methodist Church dedicated a stained-glass window in their sanctuary in honor of Hoover, which included installing a plaque below the sacred artwork.
The theologically progressive church will hold a “rededication” service for the stained-glass window on Sept. 29 and is planning to relocate the plaque to another part of the church's property.
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“(The plaque) signals to me that you agree that J. Edgar Hoover is a good model for Christian virtues,” said the Rev. Stephanie Vader, senior pastor at Capitol Hill UMC, as reported by UM News. “Because otherwise, why would you have it up there?”
The Christian Post contacted Capitol Hill United Methodist Church for this article; however, church leaders declined to be interviewed.
Although Hoover’s FBI played a key role in breaking the back of the Ku Klux Klan, he also spied on and harassed civil rights activists, most notably the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
According to Stanford University professor Lerone A. Martin, Hoover, who was raised Presbyterian, also helped to pave the way for the modern Christian nationalism movement.
“When Hoover took over the FBI, he was deliberate in making it reflect his white, Christian nationalist views,” said Martin, who wrote a book on the issue, reported UM News.
“He got rid of all the women who were special agents and all of the men of color, as well. He hired exclusively white Catholic and Protestant men to be FBI agents and to be the leadership of his FBI.”
Capitol Hill UMC’s history with Hoover goes back to its founding in the early 1960s when the newly formed congregation acquired property for a building that included Hoover’s childhood home.
According to a brochure about the history of the church, Hoover expressed no opposition to demolishing his former home to make the current parking lot for Capitol Hill UMC.
The dedication service for the stained-glass window and plaque in 1966, which Hoover attended, championed him as a model for “Statesmanship Through Christian Virtues.”
“The Rev. Edward Lewis, the pastor of Capitol Hill UMC, preached on the scripture passage about the divine calling of the prophet Samuel who helped turn the nation of Israel back to God from sin and idolatry,” noted the brochure when recounting the 1966 service.
“Rev. Lewis said that Hoover was a modern Samuel who had heeded God’s call to turn America away from subversion and back to God. Before offering a prayer, Bishop Hammaker confessed to being an ‘unashamed hero worshipper’ of Hoover and then prayed for Hoover and the FBI to ‘continue to bring salvation to the nation.’”
