Fires Reported at 3 More Ala. Churches

[SillyGoose]

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Fires damaged three more rural Baptist churches in Alabama following rash of suspected arsons that burned five churches south of Birmingham last week, a state official said Tuesday.

Ragan Ingram, a spokesman for the state insurance agency that oversees fire investigations, said the fires reported Tuesday were at Dancy First Baptist Church near Aliceville, Spring Valley Baptist Church near Emelle, and Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church near Boligee.

He said the extent of damage was not immediately known and it wasn't immediately clear when the three churches burned. State and federal fire investigators were sent to the scenes, he said.
...
Early Friday, three rural Baptist churches were destroyed and two others were damaged in rural Bibb County, about 25 miles south of Birmingham.

(more) http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060207/ap_on_re_us/church_fires

[Jacobin]

1. I wonder who is doing this?

I understand from the news reports that some churches are predominately white and some African American?

[FlaGranny]

2. Who is doing it?

I would guess a mentally ill, unstable young person, probably a white male who is fascinated by fire and doesn't like churches. He may have had a bad experience in a church or at the hands of a preacher.

Signed
"The Profiler"

[Maraya1969]

9. Yes, and he is very organized and in his 30's, highly intelligent.

He may have been raised in a Baptist Church and suffered emotional turmoil because of it. His father may have been a Baptist Preacher who abused him.
He is a white male and lives close to and/or is very familiar with the area.


I watch Criminal Minds. :)

[pschoeb]

19. Here is my criminal Minds take :)

Most arsenists don't target out of hatred

The choice of the churches has to do with their location, they are rural, so the arsenist has a better chance of not being seen, and the fire allowed to go on to it's full conclusion, so he can watch.

No denomination is being chosen, in the area there are very few rural churches that are not Baptist, this pattern has to do more with the locality than the arsenists mind.

The arsenist wants his work apreciated and reported on, it makes him feel important, that's why he knows he needs to follow a pattern and chose churches, he knows this will make them national news, a random spurt of arsen in a rural community will never get national attention. He wants to make sure people know that all these acts are his.

In one of the first fires, the church was undamaged, because people showed up and seemed to have interrupted the arsenist, the arsenist seemed to have left behind audio and video equipment, he is recording this to relive it. This would support that he is choosing rural targets becasue he has a better chance of recording the whole event without interruption.

These are not his first arsen works, he has done this before, possibly not targeting churches, his work failed to get the attention he felt it deserves, so he changed his tactics, also he feels more comfortable with his ability to burn and escape getting caught.

[Tesha]

10. It's The Trashcan Man -- "My life for you!" (NT)

[lumpy]

14. That comes later in the war of

this world.

[shadowknows69]

17. Probably not much later

Yeah I woke up on the "glass half empty" side of the bed today.

[Rich Hunt]

16. just because...

Just because white churches are being attacked too doesn't mean that it is not a white supremacist
or a group of them.

White supremacists also attack white people who defy their ideas of 'whiteness' or
who otherwise piss them off.

Church burning is a favored tactic of white supremacists.

[FlaGranny]

18. Could possibly be

a white supremacist, but I kind of doubt it. There are more white churches involved, you'd think it would involve more black than white churches if that were the case.

[OKthatsIT]

3. Southern Baptist is White. Missionary Baptist is Black.

So, yes....both.

[Lars39]

4. Missionary Baptist aren't always black.

I've known of all black Missionary Baptist churches.

[MADem]

5. I'm surprised no one has put up the anti-cartoon crowd as suspects!

Seeing as these fires come on the heels of a consulate burning....

[lumpy]

13. Heck, it might be a group of atheists

who are sick and tired of being maligned by Christian fundies. Or Christian fundies who want to precipitate a race war. Or a bunch of pro-choice women. Or Gnomeland security. Or......

[jwirr]

21. What about conservative/liberal? It could be political.

[Behind the Aegis]

23. it may have something to do with this report I found...

ADL Reports Resurgence of Racist Skinheads in U.S. and Launches New Online Racist Skinhead Project

New York, NY, February 7, 2006 … The United States has seen a "significant and troubling" resurgence of racist skinhead activity, with a rise in the number of organized racist skinhead groups as well as a rise in the number of unaffiliated racist skinheads, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

In a new report issued today, ADL warns that racist skinhead activity in the U.S. is rising, with active groups or individuals identifying themselves as racist skinheads in nearly all states in the country.

The League has launched an online Racist Skinhead Project at www.adl.org/racist_skinheads, which tracks activity by state and region, while noting that the substantial increase in the number of active racist skinheads in the U.S. has accompanied a rise in violent hate crimes carried out by racist skinheads against Jews, African-Americans, Hispanics, gays and lesbians, and immigrants.

"Racist skinhead activity occurs in every state of the country, even where organized groups are not present," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "It is a fluid movement in which skinheads do not necessarily belong to a particular group. Viewed as a whole, the resurgence in activity by racist skinheads is significant and troubling. The Internet provides a borderless universe for recruitment and organizing, and racist skinhead groups have taken advantage of the technology to spread their hate through cyberspace and in the real world."

more...

[StuckinKS]

6. Well, Chris Matthews

says it is gay liberals.

[havocmom]

7. When was it Matthews hired Pat Robertson's writers, anyway?

:evilgrin:

[htuttle]

8. I think it's because God is angry at them

Isn't that why stuff happens?

[MindPilot]

25. Was the decor THAT bad?

I'll take care of it myself... :spank:

[LostinVA]

11. I wish those evil gays who stop this!

It's causing a wedge issue in the Dem party!

[ksilvas]

12. It's the back-draft of their own hypocrisy. n/t

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. What is going on here?

These people WANT to be caught. This is bold.

[AlCzervik]

20. i'm guessing the arson is to cover the burglary? I read that the churches

were burglarized.

[Critters2]

22. No

I read that one church was burned, but a computer and sound tech equipment weren't taken. Nor was a jar with money for the poor--around $200. These aren't burglaries.

[flamingpie2500]

24. Black History Month---------

Wasn't it Feb. the last time this happened?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/churches/reaction.htm

[maddezmom]

26. kick

[Charlie Brown]

27. More Alabama Churches set on fire

http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-02-07T184228Z_01_N07406946_RTRUKOC_0_US-CRIME-CHURCHES.xml

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - Three Baptist churches were destroyed by fires in rural Alabama and a fourth was damaged in suspected arson attacks, officials said on Tuesday, less than a week after five churches were torched in the state.

All five of the churches that burned last week also were the homes of Baptist congregations.

The FBI said a special agent investigating the five churches burned last Friday in Bibb County, Alabama, also had been assigned to the latest series of fires. A $10,000 reward was offered for information about the first round of fires.

All of the churches hit in the latest fires belonged to black congregations, local officials said. All were located no more than about 17 miles from each other in the Black Belt of Alabama, named for its rich soil and populated predominantly by African-Americans.

The five churches burned last week in Bibb County also were near other and four of them belonged to predominantly white congregations.

"It is such a vibrant church and the people were so active," said Mary Paluzzi, city manager of nearby Aliceville. "There is no explaining how mean people can be. They hit people who don't have means and who give so much of their little."

[varkam]

28. Mean?!

Mean? Really? How about reprehensible?

[file83]

36. Mean!? Try PSYCHOTIC!! Try RACIST!! Try IGNORANT!!!

Try Bush supporters.

[Rainscents]

29. This is so sad... Blacks do give so much and most of them have

so little.

[tanyev]

30. Where is Phil Parlock????

[quaoar]

31. Sounds like retaliation

Anyone who burns a church should be hanged.

[speedoo]

32. Has nitwit Sessions had anything to say about this yet?

Probably not. Too busy running around the Senate, taking care of the Coward's bidness.

[napi21]

33. What group IN ALABAMA has this much hatred from the

Baptists?

When I first heard about these burnings last week, the first thing I thought of was that they were the KKK attacking the black churches again. But when they reported that most of them were white churches, I'm very confused.

I know there's still a lot of racism in Ala. but there's also a whole lot of fundies! Why would they burn their own churches?

I feel so bad for the congregations of all those churches. I know they feel very personal grief.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

34. Perhaps it is just as simple as...

Someone wanting to provoke a confrontation.

[seafan]

38. There's a good possibility you are right, IMHO.

Looking at the cartoon reactions around the world, the mass walkout of editorial staff at the New York Press over this, adding to the fray...., all the church torchings..., the bomb scare at Clear Channel radio station in Miami today,...

I really wonder if someone/some group is deliberately trying to instigate riots/uprisings around the world and especially in this country. Rummy and Cheney must REALLY be antsy to declare martial law and try out their new uniformed SS with their brand new *anti peace-loving-people toys.*

It is all so incredibly insane.

[file83]

35. Sounds like the "white folk" are as ignorant as the "muslim folk" burning

down buildings of the people they disagree with. Just a thought.

[QC]

37. You know, if you have information about who is burning these churches

you really should pass it on to the police.

[file83]

39. Hey, you forgot to add that cute little *sarcasm* smilie...

...because what you said was really funny. (((:sarcasm:))) ha ha.

[electron_blue]

40. I would not rule out Rove or someone in Bush administration

trying to ignite civil war here, to distract us from other cases.

What we could all use right now is an outpouring to help these communities who lost their churches. From plain regular folks (not govt) to show we care and will not let this divide us.