Church fires in Alabama

A member of a burned-out church in West Alabama may have best captured the mood Southerners are feeling as they watch and hear about a rash of churches being set ablaze across a rural section of Alabama.

"I don't know what's going on," Johnny Archibold told the Associated Press. "It's just sickness."

Tuesday's four church fires bring the total to nine across West Alabama in less than a week. That's big news as evidenced by news reports here, here and here.

Most Southerners, black and white, feel a special closeness to their church. That may not be unique, but it appears to be more fervent in the South. These most recent fires were near my hometown, Aliceville, Ala., a place like many across the South where church is more than a structure. That makes the recent rash of church fires all the more disturbing and painful. Church is so closely tied to community life that you can't harm one without inflicting pain on the other.

Regardless of whether the arsonists are pranksters or folks with a more deep-seated intent, members of the smoldering structures are hurting, as are their neighbors, who realize their church may be next.

The words of Austin Banks, a federal agent looking into the blazes, might bring comfort to parishioners.

"It's a sad sight to see a smoldering church, particularly when it doesn't have a rich congregation. ... This is going to be our top priority until we put someone in jail."