Is nothing sacred? Lately in the Mercer County area the answer is: Obviously not.

There has been a rash of church burglaries in this area. It’s about as contemptible a crime as we could imagine.

Regardless of anyone’s religious views, to burglarize churches has to revolt even some hardened criminals. You would think that such low-life scum must really be hard up.

How much money could you really get at a church? Most church leaders realize that they can’t keep money on hand. And for all church leaders after a few burglaries, forewarned is forearmed.

Unfortunately, these burglars don’t just take money. They ransack offices and may damage furniture or church equipment.

The real head-scratcher is that in most cases the crooks don’t even bother to take anything except for money. At a recent burglary at the Presbyterian Church of West Middlesex, the criminals didn’t take any electronic equipment which could have possibly been sold.

However, a laptop computer was taken from another church.

Southwest Mercer County Regional Police Chief Riley Smoot has investigated some of the burglaries and pointed out that ministers and maintenance people need to make sure that all doors and windows at the church are locked.

He also stressed that all neighbors of churches need to be on the lookout for any strangers in the area and they should notify police immediately of any strange goings-on.

Years ago churches were almost never locked. People could come in at almost any hour and pray. But those days are long gone. And that’s a sad commentary on the state of our society today.

Maybe, just maybe, somebody will turn in the burglars after hearing about their involvement. If not, eventually these burglars will slip up and be caught.

And when they are captured, lets hope there is enough evidence to lock them up for a long while. While most religions teach forgiveness, it’s hard to turn the other cheek for these kind of criminals.

In fact, there has to be a special place in hell reserved for people who rob churches.