Church Fires And Hate Crimes

A rash of church fires in Central Alabama are connected and intentional, according to Gov. Bob Riley:

Authorities have ruled arson in five Baptist church fires Friday in rural Bibb County just south of Birmingham. Four more fires at Baptist churches on Tuesday in rural west Alabama had similar patterns — doors kicked in, fires set near the altar — as those in Bibb County.

"I think they are connected, at least from what I've seen," Riley said.

He said he sees no evidence of a "grand conspiracy" against religion or Baptist churches. And Jim Cavanaugh, regional director of the federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agency, said there could be a "thrill motive" behind the arsons.

As the report notes, all of the churches are Baptist. This may not be an intent on the arsonists' part, as you can't sling a cat in Alabama without hitting two or three of them.

A popular Internet directory lists 5,078 Baptist churches in the state, and that doesn't include the ones that are so small they don't have a telephone. Methodist congregations are second-most common, with 1,026 in the directory.

Alabama has one Baptist church for every 875 of its 4.4 million residents, and there's at least one for every 534 persons in rural Bibb County, where the first five church arsons occurred last Friday.

The burning of black churches was a favorite terrorist tactic of the Kluckers back in the '50s and '60s, as it was the heart of the Southern community. But the arsons do not appear to be racially motivated. Five of the churches have black congregations, while the other four are white. (Yes, in a grand example of irony, churches in Alabama -- particularly in the rural parts of the state -- remain mostly segregated. Both races tend to keep it this way, too.)

The reward for tips leading to arrests is now at $100,000. Let's hope these idiots are caught soon before someone (either in the church or a responding firefighter) is hurt.

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Meanwhile, the Alabama House of Representatives voted down adding sexual orientation to the state's hate crimes law. Actually, the House members voted down even considering it, by a 40-37 count.

The Legislature passed a hate crimes law in 1994 that mandates longer minimum sentences for crimes committed because of the victim's race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or physical or mental disability, but does not include sexual orientation. Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery, has been trying since 1999 to expand the law to add sexual orientation because of several well-publicized killings of gay men.

Holmes said he believes lawmakers who voted against the bill are biased against gays and lesbians.

"I think there are people against people because of sexual orientation, just like there are people against people because of race," Holmes said.

A similar bill passed the House, but died in the Senate, in 1999, but Holmes said he felt his bill lost Tuesday because lawmakers face re-election this year.

While this may seem to be a disappointment, it was a remarkably close vote. Perhaps Holmes should cast shame upon his own party, as well, which has a substantial majority in the House -- despite Alabama's reputation as a Red State. Three Democrats voted against his bill. Had those three voted with their party, the bill would still have failed (a three-fifths majority, or 62 votes if all were present, was required to bring it up for consideration.) But at least it would have been some sort of moral victory.

Another 20 Democrats didn't have the guts to show up for the vote, and another one abstained. If all Democrats had voted in favor, the motion would have had 61 votes -- and if the five Republicans who did not vote still didn't show, I believe the three-fifths would have been reached. Unless the House rule is three-fifths of all members, not just members voting.

Regardless, it would have never passed the Senate, where the Democrats hold an even slimmer majority. And Riley, as a Republican -- though not necessarily a hard-right one -- probably would have found a way to veto it or allow it to die on his desk.

One can debate the necessity of such laws. Personally, I wish prosecutors and judges would charge and sentence all violent crimes to the maximum extent of the law. In Alabama, that means the needle for murder.

Just another reason for gay people to prepare for self-defense.