Who is behind the church fires?

[BoneDaddy]

Who do you think is responsible for the rash of church fires down south?

[Birthmark]

1. I wish I knew.

I'd turn them in in a heartbeat.

[Warpy]

2. I've speculated that the public internal struggle among some of

the Baptist sects has begun to turn violent.

However, the pattern in Alabama looks like dumb teenagers. Most of the churches had mild to moderate damage but weren't destroyed.

I could be wrong on this and probably am. However, there's been a lot of weird stuff going on among the Baptists for the past decade. I wouldn't be at all surprised if people were taking it to the next level.

[tsuki]

12. They caught the vandals here. Did a hundred thousand dollars

worth of damage. They were teens.

[cantstandbush]

25. Are you in Alabama? Where are you. I haven't heard of anyone being

caught.

[tsuki]

31. NWFL. The damage was done to a Catholic Church here.

Read in the weekly that the perpetrators were caught.

[blm]

3. The same "mechanics" behind the politically-driven mega-churches.

.

[PassingThrough]

6. Could you expound a little? I have no idea what you mean.

[blm]

8. Alot of these mega-churches were pursued to push uniformity of thought -

political thought. It was started in the early 70s with funding by RevMoon and other Bush family allies and includes the Tim LaHaye and Jerry Falwell type "religious" leaders. There are even a number of black mega-churches subsidized by deep-pocket moneymen - it always comes down to politics.

[SmokingJacket]

4. Idiots who need a better hobby.

I could very well be wrong, but I don't think there's much more behind it than idiocy.

[mrcheerful]

5. Radical extremist liberals out to get bible thumping christens

who are just trying to do gods will according to Pat Robertson and Jerry Fawel. I still say its the good old KKK or some young idiots that follow that line of reasoning. I know some say no way as the KKK has been keeping a low profile, but think about how young racists keep popping up on the internet. Are they members of the KKK, propbably not, but they listen to the KKK and believe the lies and distortions the KKK puts out. Remember we are living in times where kids are doing some pretty stupid stuff, like the kid that went after gays just last week.

[Alexodin]

7. Historically racists have done this sort of thing.

I'm not aware of anyone else that burns black churches in the south though I don't know that these were all black churches that burned.

[Emit]

13. I just heard a report on NPR that said

They were all Baptist churches: 5 were ones with mostly black membership and 4 were ones with mostly white membership.

[Blue_In_AK]

26. I find it interesting that they're all Baptist churches

Maybe it's disgruntled ex-fundies.

[AngryAmish]

9. Arsonists?

[Quakerfriend]

10. Yes, just your garden variety arsonist.

IMHO.

[f-bush]

11. Rush and Hannity!

[annabanana]

14. The Army of radical Christian Reconstructionists ?

conservative fundamentalist churches better look out:
the Army of radical Christian Reconstructionists is preparing to convert you to their ways

http://splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=...


from earlier threads:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x388049

[Emit]

15. Here's what NPR said

Suspects thus far are two white men, and possibly a dark-colored SUV reportedly seen in the area of the fires (multiple arsons are suspected because multiple origins of fires were found inside the churches). 7 of the 9 fires (not including the tenth from today -- this is a report from 2/8/06) are suspected to be the work of arsons (still investigating the other 2). They were all Baptist churches: 5 were ones with mostly black congregations and 4 were ones with mostly white members. Alpha insurance insures most of the churches and has posted a $10,000 reward.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5196772&ft=1&f=2

[Mr.Green93]

16. White males,

count on it.

[RC]

17. White Christian males.

Just your garden variety godless Christian males.

[annabanana]

18. I'm telling you.. It really could be THESE guys..

Or some of his followers....

An Army of radical Christian Reconstructionists is preparing a campaign to convert conservative fundamentalist churches.
By David Holthouse

Mark Rushdoony

Draped in a stark black suit with a shiny gold cross pinned to its lapel, Mark Rushdoony peered down from the pulpit through glasses tinted the color of hellfire.
"We are authorized by God to challenge all that is not godly!" Rushdoony thundered. "God is angry with the wicked every day, and the sins of the wicked deserve the infliction of God's wrath in this life as well as the life hereafter!"

Rushdoony was the keynote preacher at a symposium held in September at the Chalcedon Presbyterian Church in Cumming, Ga., to observe the 40th anniversary of the Chalcedon Foundation, the ultra-fundamentalist Christian ministry founded in California by Rushdoony's late father, R.J. Rushdoony. The elder Rushdoony was a racist and Holocaust denier who took his group's name from a medieval council of bishops that proclaimed the subservience of all nations and governments to God.

The Chalcedon Foundation has since become the fountainhead for Christian Reconstructionism, an obscure but growing branch of Christian fundamentalism whose adherents believe the world should be "reconstructed" so that everyone in it lives under strict Old Testament moral codes imposed by local theocracies.


More: http://splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=591

[SmokingJacket]

22. Interesting theory. Rushdoony is a whacko. nt

[Emit]

24. No kidding.

I'm on their mailing list. (long story, but basically, just keeping track of the opposition) They're nuts.

[pinto]

19. Don't know. Hope they have some leads going and figure this out.

[proud patriot]

20. A Sicko whomever it is

[porphyrian]

21. Bored suburban children? - n/t

[Ksec]

23. IMO its copycat arsons

According to stuff Ive seen on the news, most were way off the beaten path and more than likely done by someone familar with the area, (most are way out in the boonies.) When you see this it makes me think its local idiots copycating. And the number of church fires is not up I guess. Theres always lots of fires at churches, 1000 alone last year.

[DanCa]

27. I have nailed it down to two possibilites.

Choice A) Disgruntled anti-choicers who are becoming impatient that abortion hasn' t been over turned yet.

Choice B) Someone whose terminaly ill and needs some type of medical procedure which is against the baptist doctorine. Such as stem cell research.

Anyhow that's my take on this thing.

[Kansas Wyatt]

28. Mega Churches wanting to acquire the territory and parishioners.

Just like Mega Corporations pushing out the little competition. There's big bucks to be made by the Righteous Leaders of the Mega Churches, and the Republicans that blow sweet somethings in their ears.

[Kansas Wyatt]

29. Oh, and it benefits the 'War On Christians' campaign.

[Emit]

30. Yeah, I just read this article

here:

http://www.theocracywatch.org/new_hasten_end_seattletimes_feb8_2006.htm

Wednesday, February 8, 2006
Pastors hope to spread Gospel, hasten End Time

By Louis Sahagun
Los Angeles Times

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Pastors of some of the largest evangelical churches in America met Tuesday in Inglewood to polish strategies for starting 5 million new churches worldwide in 10 years, an effort they say they hope will hasten the End Time. The Rapture and Second Coming of Jesus have always been the ultimate goal of evangelicalism. But when that would occur was any Christian's guess. The Global Pastors Network's "Billion Souls Initiative" aims to shorten the path to Judgment Day by partnering church resources with the latest communications systems to spread the Gospel of Jesus.

In an interview at Faith Central Bible Church in Inglewood, James Davis, president of the campaign, said, "Jesus Christ commissioned his disciples to go to the ends of the Earth and tell everyone how they could achieve eternal life. As we advance around the world, we'll be shortening the time needed to fulfill that great commission.
"Then, the Bible says, the end will come." Added Davis: "The current generation may actually live long enough to see this." Faith Central Pastor Kenneth Ulmer, who leads an Inglewood congregation of 10,000, agreed, but said church leaders have differing opinions of what to expect. "Meeting our goal has messianic dimensions. It will certainly mean some kind of new world order," he said...

~snip~

Over the past five years, more than 20,000 church leaders have attended Global Pastors Network events across the nation. Among them were key executives of Pat Robertson's 700 Club, National Evangelical Association President Ted Haggard and the Rev. Jerry Falwell. "Next year will usher in a new dimension for us," Ulmer said. "We'll be kicking it all into gear internationally with a wedding of technology and vision. We'll be sponsoring major events in Singapore, the Ukraine, South America and Africa."

The movement is already taking on political dimensions. In late January, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani spoke to the pastors group in Orlando, Fla., on what it takes to be a leader in time of crisis, which is the subject of his new book. Giuliani, a practicing Catholic and supporter of abortion rights and gay rights, is weighing a possible 2008 presidential bid.

~snip~

[upi402]

32. Are they black churches? I don't watch TV news...