A Lutheran pastor in La Crosse resigned on Tuesday, four days after a vulgar and virulent email threatening to gang rape a Milwaukee bloggerwho criticized police work was sent from his home email address, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod said.
The Rev. David Wendt of First Evangelical Lutheran Church in La Crosse tendered his resignation to the church council, a day after blogger Claire Van Fossen posted the email on social media.
Synod spokesman Lee Hitter said he did not know whether Wendt admitted sending the email, and efforts to reach Wendt and church President Mick Schwedler were unsuccessful.
Hitter said Wendt told synod President Mark Schroeder earlier in the day that the email address in question was his, but he denied sending the threat.
“Obviously, the email was completely unacceptable,” said Hitter.
Van Fossen, a liberal Milwaukee activist and blogger, said she was inundated with emails and telephone calls critical of a blog post in which she declared that police cause more harm than good. Much of the anger was directed at the timing of the post — one day after State Trooper Trevor Casper , 21, was shot and killed by a bank robber in Fond du Lac.
The fact that a Christian (and a reverand no less) would resort to threatening rape against someone whose opinion he disagrees with is absolutely unconscionable, and it shows the lengths some so-called “Christian” conservatives will go to in order to attempt to quash dissent.
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