Church Fires Leave Communities Confused, Heartbroken

Please pray for the victims of these horrible crimes.

BOLIGEE, Ala. — The front of the sanctuary was in flames, and smoke was pouring from the windows of Morning Star Baptist Church when Johnny Archibald arrived to a grimly familiar scene in Alabama.
As soon as he saw the fire, he immediately thought of the five other Baptist churches that had burned in the morning darkness four days earlier.
"I don't know what's going on," Archibald said Tuesday as he stood outside the ruins of his church. "It's just sickness."
Morning Star Baptist and three other rural Alabama churches were damaged or destroyed by fires Tuesday, bringing the number of suspicious church fires in the state to nine in less than a week. Authorities said they had no clear suspects but were inspecting tire tracks and footprints and searching for a dark-colored sport-utility vehicle.
"Obviously somebody or somebodies are interested in burning down churches. Whether it's hate against a race or religion in general, we don't know," said Ragan Ingram, a spokesman for the state insurance agency that oversees fire investigations.
Ingram said the first rash of fires early Friday — at four predominantly white churches and one predominantly black church — are believed to be linked.

Read the rest here.