Six Rural Alabama Churches Burned

Fox News is reporting that six churches, mostly Baptist, in rural Alabama have been burned. It's not clear to authorities if it's arson or not, but the fact that all are within 15 to 20 miles of each other, makes it very possible. Not sure if it will be treated as a "hate crime" or not. Probably not since it is only Christian churches. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

CENTREVILLE, Ala. — The search for a possible arsonist was underway Friday after six churches in rural Alabama were found burning. At least five of the fires were suspected to have been set deliberately.
The fires were set "as fast as they could drive from one location to the next," Bibb County Chief Deputy Sheriff Kenneth Weems said of the cluster of blazes, all near U.S. 82 and Highway 139.
Most of the churches were Baptist and all were in Bibb County, about 25 miles south of Birmingham.
The churches that burned Friday morning included Rehobeth Baptist Church in Randolph, Ashby Baptist Church in Brierfield, Old Union Baptist Church in Brierfield, Pleasant Sabine southeast of Centerville and Antioch Baptist Church in Antioch, FOX affiliate WBRC in Birmingham, Ala., confirmed. New Harmony Holiness Baptist Church in Fairview, Chilton County, was also ablaze. Ashby Baptist and Rehobeth Baptist both burned to the ground.
All were within a 15- to 20-mile radius of each other, according to WBRC.
The fire that damaged the Chilton County church apparently happened late Thursday afternoon and gutted New Harmony Holiness Baptist. No one was hurt. That church had been undergoing construction, which could have been a source of the fire, said Ragan Ingram, a spokesman for the state insurance agency that oversees fire investigations.
Firefighters were still spraying water on some hotspots late Friday morning.
The Rev. David Hand of the Old Union Baptist Church said a fire was discovered at his church at around 4:30 a.m. Friday. But, he said the blaze was extinguished before it could cause serious damage.
Jim Parker, a member of the Ashby Baptist Church, told WBRC television in Birmingham that he understood the fire began near the pulpit and that the fires at other churches had a similar pattern.
The minister of The First Baptist Church of Woodstock — which was not burned — told FOX News that all the churches targeted were southern Baptist; one is predominantly black while the others were predominantly white.
In 1996, race was a factor in a series of arsons that damaged rural black churches in Alabama and elsewhere. But Ingram said the fires late Thursday and early Friday destroyed both the churches of predominantly black congregations and predominantly white congregations.
WRBC reported that police have not made public the names of any suspects or announced any arrests. But pastors of the burned churches have been making plans for weekend services.
Republican Congressman Spencer Bachus of Alabama visited Bibb County Friday "to see the destruction firsthand."
"My deepest sympathies are with the residents of Bibb County and members of the affected churches," Bachus said in a statement released by his office. "Federal, state and local resources are being exhausted to find those responsible for these heinous acts. ... My prayer is that the people of Bibb County can soon begin to heal."