A church is a place of holy sanctity, a place of worship, refuge and hope. But some people in the world feel differently about this. So differently in fact, that they would spend their time and energy to burn churches to the ground.
Since New Years Day there have been a total of nine church fires in the East Texas area, seven of which have been declared arson.
The victims of the arsonist's attacks have not let the destruction of their church building discourage them. Many have the mindset that the church is not the building, it's in the hearts of the congregation. Members of the church and of the community have come together to keep spirits high and pray for the capture of the culprit.
I honestly cannot understand why anyone would commit this crime. It's not worth the punishment to try and express your feelings about a religion or any thing for that matter by burning someone else's property or home.
The culprit of these arsons is obviously not acting against one certain belief system, because if he was, there would be an obvious pattern of denominations between the fires.
This arsonist, I think, is only trying to get attention and get his "15 minutes of fame." It's either that, or he is just flat out malicious toward anyone and anything with a belief system.
You have to wonder, does this person just not know what it feels like to lose something he believes in or loves. If he did, you would think that there would be some sort of understanding of the pain he is causing to his victims.
Then again, maybe he has a deranged reason behind his madness, and feels like there is no possible way to express it without the use of fire.
Sketches have been recently published of three persons of interest regarding the fires, and if the sketches are accurate, I'm sure the suspects have fled the area, or gone into hiding.
I have a feeling this isn't the last we will hear of the alleged arsonist, but I do think the worst is over for the East Texas community.
Published 2/19/10
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