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Church arson is the burning of, or attempting to burn, religious property. Around the world, arson is committed because empty churches are a soft target, or due to excommunication, racial hatred, pyromania, prejudice against certain religions or religious beliefs greed, as part of a sectarian campaign of communal violence, or as a means of anonymously registering dissent or anti-religious sentiment.
The Macedonia Baptist Church is a centuries-old historically black church located in rural Clarendon County, South Carolina. It was destroyed by arsonists following direction from the local Ku Klux Klan chapter known as the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and was later rebuilt afterwards. Four Klansmen were convicted for the crime, and a subsequent civil suit effectively closed the Klan chapter's operation in the county. The successful civil suit was called a "wake-up call" indicating that racial violence would not be tolerated.
Three Louisiana black churches were set alight by a suspected arsonist between March 26 and April 4, 2019. The first fire occurred at St. Mary Baptist Church in Port Barre on March 26. Ten days later, two other historic black churches, Greater Union Baptist Church and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Opelousas, Louisiana, were also set on fire—on April 2 and April 4 respectively. The suspect used gasoline at each church, destroying them completely.
A series of vandalizations, arsons, and suspicious fires in June and July 2021 desecrated, damaged, or destroyed 68 Christian churches in Canada. Coincident with fires, vandalism and other destructive events damaged churches in Canada and the United States, primarily in British Columbia. Of these, 25 were the results of fires of all causes. Canadian government officials, church members, and Canadian Indigenous leaders have speculated that the fires and other acts of vandalism have been reactions to the May 2021 reports of probable discovery of over 1,000 unmarked graves at Canadian Indian residential school sites.
The Nihon Shōgakkō fire, or Japanese mission school fire, was a racially motivated arson that killed ten children in Sacramento, California, on April 15, 1923, at the dormitory of a Buddhist boarding school for students of Japanese ancestry. Fortunato Valencia Padilla, a Mexican-American itinerant from the Rio Grande Valley, admitted to committing the arson after his arrest in July 1923. Padilla confessed to at least 25 other fires in California, 13 of which were committed against Japanese households and Japanese-owned properties. Padilla was indicted on first-degree murder charges for the school fire on September 1, 1923, in Sacramento, with the prosecution seeking capital punishment. He was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was incarcerated at Folsom State Prison and later San Quentin State Prison; he died in 1970.
References
- ↑ "Two latest Texas church fires ruled arson". Turner Broadcasting System. Cable News Network. February 11, 2010. Retrieved 13 February 2010.
- ↑ Flowers, Rich (January 29, 2010). "Rewards related to church fires". Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. Athens Review. Retrieved 13 February 2010.
- ↑ Livingston, Layron (February 10, 2010). "UPDATE: Communities on alert after 2 more churches burn". KLTV. Archived from the original on 12 February 2010. Retrieved 13 February 2010.
- ↑ Staff, News 8 Austin (February 12, 2010). "3 persons of interest in Texas church fires". TWEAN News Channel of Austin. News 8 Austin. Retrieved 13 February 2010.
- ↑ 2 Men Charged in Texas Church Fire by Derrick Henry for The New York Times , published February 21, 2010; retrieved 6 November 2011.
- ↑ McKinley Jr, James C. (March 1, 2010). "From Churchgoer to Charges as Church Burner". The New York Times.
- ↑ "Jason Bourque and Daniel McAllister: East Texas Church Arsonists Sentenced to Life | Houston Press". blogs.houstonpress.com. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
- ↑ "KLTV". m.kltv.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2014. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
- ↑ "Little Hope Was Arson". imdb.com. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
- ↑ "Little Hope Was Arson". littlehopewasarson.com. Retrieved 15 May 2015.