There was an interesting report [1]on the AP today about a bunch of churches which have mysteriously gone up in flames down here in Texas since the new year. Well I say down here but actually it’s quite a drive from Austin to East Texas where most of the incinerated churches used to stand.
According to the AP:
Authorities determined seven of those fires were intentionally set and they are investigating one that broke out Thursday as a possible arson. There have been no reported injuries or arrests, and federal officials aren’t saying whether there’s a connection.
Most people in these parts can’t help but think they are.
“I think everybody is expecting more of these, to tell you the truth,” said pastor David Mahfood, [2]whose Baptist church in Tyler was destroyed in a Jan. 16 fire. “I think the worst is probably behind Tyler, but I’d worry about other cities.”
Six of the seven arsons were just nine days apart, sending many congregations in east Texas scurrying to install security systems and prompting volunteers to keep close eyes on church properties from dusk to dawn. Federal and local authorities have released scant details and say they need more information.
Apparently whoever is burning the churches to the ground is an equal opportunities arsonist; he has no beef with any particular denomination, they’re all fair game. Pastor Mahfood thinks it’s a hate crime:
“I don’t really think you can look at this devastation and not realize this has hate as its impetus,” he said. “We have probably experienced every emotion possible.”
I suspect Pastor Mahfood is right as to the motives of the twisted fire starter. [3]But who would hate Christianity so much that he or she would feel compelled to burn churches to the ground? Your bog standard angry atheist generally prefers to leave insulting comments on blogs, or talk appreciably about that Christopher Hitchens/Richard Dawkins book they just read. They’re not all that radical, regardless of the posturing.
What this story reminds me of is the spate of church burnings that occurred in Norway in the 1990s. I wrote a bit about it here, in a different context. [4]In this case, some morons fired up on Satanic black metal [5]got it into their heads that Christianity had been a disaster for Norway and it would have been a lot better if the Scandinavians had retained their loyalty to the old gods such as Odin, you know, and stayed vikings. Some of them also professed admiration for the Devil, although how you can accept the existence of Satan without also endorsing the rest of Christian theology is a mystery to me. And so they burned some beautiful old wooden churches [6]to the ground to prove their point.
There are certainly plenty of disgruntled black metal kids knocking about in Texas, and as the church is pretty much ubiquitous away from big cities such as Austin, Houston and Dallas well — setting fire to a few houses of worship would be an ideal way to express your inchoate rage at life, authority, and the rest while getting a few kicks at the same time. And so my top tip to Pastor Mahfood and the federal authorities ‘looking for more information’ would be — look for the Burzum [7]fan.
And having made one prediction, here’s another — if I am right, and this church burning thing gathers steam, prepare for some really shit New York Times/60 minutes style ‘analytical’ pieces on Black Metal, written by the usual motley crew [8]of humorless, pseudo-intellectual hacks.
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Daniel Kalder [12]
Latest posts by Daniel Kalder (Posts [13])
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