Posted on 02/12/2006 3:48:20 AM PST by Fzob
(CNN) -- Another Baptist church in Alabama was heavily damaged by fire Saturday night, becoming the 10th house of worship burned in recent weeks, police said.
....
A Lamar County Sheriff's Department dispatcher said police are still trying to determine what caused the fire at the Beaverton Freewill Baptist Church in northwest Alabama.
....
"When we got there, it obviously was in the beginning stages of the fire," Johnson said. "It was coming from the middle of the church. Then the fire began to rage. Then it engulfed the whole church."
...
Investigators have been trying to determine the causes and whether the rural church fires are linked. (Watch as church burnings are made a priority -- 2:04)
Investigators have said arson was the cause of seven fires. Arson also is suspected in the other two.
Eric Kehn, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said ATF agents were at the scene of the Beaverton fire, but they had not yet determined how it started or whether it was related to the other church fires.
Five churches with predominantly African-American congregations and four with predominantly white ones have been set ablaze in the past week in central and western Alabama. Nobody has been injured. (Map)
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I sure hope arrests are made soon. I don't understand why someone enjoys burning down churches.
I don't believe it is because they were displaying the 10 commandments.
Think maybe the major tv networks have set the stage for this? Their often hateful programming about Christians may allow some to think churches need to be gotten rid of.
I don't either, but I sometimes wonder how long it will be before some element within atheism will become radicalized to the point of burning Churches because they are offensive to them.
It must be us hateful Baptist that raised their ire.
Well one can bet that non of the churches were homosexual or the government investigaters would get personally involved and find the hate crime perps in no time.
I can't believe that parishioners are not camping out and protecting their churches!
This map is outdated. More Mosque's have moved in across the United States since it was published. It shows no Mosque's at that time in Alabama. But that could have changed.
The closest ones are in the Florida panhandle and NC.
I sure hope and pray it isn't Islam doing this. That's all we need! :(
I suspect this is a seriously mentally ill person who hopefully will get caught this time around. Apparently this went on about a decade ago in AL and the perp was never caught.....
"I sure hope and pray it isn't Islam doing this."
I doubt a muslim perp doing this would distinguish between brands of christianity, particularly with so many to choose from - this more likely is someone with a personal fixation regarding the baptist church for who knows what reason.
Exactly. All the signs point to this being someone or some group local to the area. What amazes me is that 10 churches could burn without anyone seeing and reporting anything that leads to the arsonist.
Thanks for the info.
I don't know if it's because we have a more active media or what, but too much has been happening of late that causes me great concern.
We just can't lay claim on this certain group of people, but a lot of it has been brought about by themselves. We just don't know who to trust and if we CAN trust any of them. It's scary.
It's probably some stupid atheist in Alabama just getting his kicks.
I think you are correct.
The media says it's not racial. Because both black and white churches have burnt down. I'm like you: it's probably some brain dead atheist just getting his kicks. I pray they find him/them real soon. Lots of nuts running around today.
One guy on Fox News said yesterday that most of these churches are off the beaten track. But 'in the woods' sort of locations. Isolated.
"it's probably some brain dead atheist just getting his kicks."
Why atheist? Given the fixation with Baptist churches in particular I would think it more likely that the perp is/was a baptist than any other denomination or athetist. (ex-baptist turned athetist is still baptist in my book for motive purposes).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.