The Real Plunder Of Europe’s Crown Jewels Was An Inside Job, And It Wasn’t At The Louvre

One of Europe’s crown jewels, a centuries-old relic of irreplaceable artistic and historical import, has fallen into the hands of vandals intent on abusing it for their own selfish gain.

I’m not talking about the heist at the Louvre over the weekend, in which thieves broke into the most famous art museum in the world and stole nine items from a collection of priceless treasures that once belonged to French royals of no less significance than Napoleon Bonaparte.

I’m talking about the plunder of Canterbury Cathedral, in which a church founded by St. Augustine of Canterbury and famed as the site of Thomas Becket’s martyrdom was defaced with irreverent graffiti accusing God of being “indifferent to suffering” and “creat[ing] hate.” Unlike the Louvre heist, it wasn’t done by bandits with angle-grinders. It was done by a man who describes himself as an “agender goblin-thing,” with the enthusiastic blessing of the cathedral’s curator, Jacqueline Creswell, and its dean, David Monteith, because it catered to “marginalized communities.”