Sarah Palin Church Fire: Palin's Home Church Burned In Arson Incident

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin's home church was badly damaged by arson, leading the governor to apologize if the fire was connected to "undeserved negative attention" from her failed campaign as the Republican vice presidential nominee.

Damage to the Wasilla Bible Church was estimated at $1 million, authorities said Saturday. No one was injured in the fire, which was set Friday night while a handful of people, including two children, were inside, according to Central Mat-Su Fire Chief James Steele.

He said the blaze was being investigated as an arson but didn't know of any recent threats to the church. Authorities didn't know whether Palin's connection to the church was relevant to the fire, Steele said.

"It's hard to say at this point. Everything is just speculation," he said. "We have no information on intent or motive."

Steele would not comment on the means used to set the fire.

Pastor Larry Kroon declined to say whether the church had received any recent threats.

"There are so many variables," he said. "I don't want to comment in that direction."

Palin, who was not at the church at the time of the fire, stopped by Saturday. Her spokesman, Bill McAllister, said in a statement that Palin told an assistant pastor she was sorry if the fire was connected to the "undeserved negative attention" the church has received since she became the vice presidential candidate Aug. 29.

"Whatever the motives of the arsonist, the governor has faith in the scriptural passage that what was intended for evil will in some way be used for good," McAllister said.

The 1,000-member evangelical church was the subject of intense scrutiny after Palin was named John McCain's running mate. Early in Palin's campaign, the church was criticized for promoting in a Sunday bulletin a Focus on the Family "Love Won Out Conference" in Anchorage. The conference promised to "help men and women dissatisfied with living homosexually understand that same-sex attractions can be overcome."

The fire was set at the entrance of the church and moved inward as a small group of women were working on crafts, Steele said. The group was alerted to the blaze by a fire alarm.

Outside temperatures were minus 20 as firefighters battled the blaze.

Steele said a multi-agency task force was being assembled to investigate the fire.

Wasilla, the governor's hometown, is 40 miles north of Anchorage.

Comments

[SirHenryClinton]

Has anyone considered the possibility that this may be an insurance job? It seems almost a certainty that donations would have dried up once the Salem-esque Rev. Muthee's behavior became common knowledge: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/the-witch-hunter-anoints_b_128805.html

A motive for the fire could be a desire by someone at this church to "play the victim". This would give them free publicity and possibly a flood of donations to rebuild. A good investigator will consider all possibilities. There is ample evidence that many members of these fundamentalist churches are mentally unbalanced.

To paraphrase Martin Niemoller "And when they came for Mama Jane, I said nothing ..."

[SirHenryClinton]

Regarding the character of "preachers" associated with this church, i.e. Rev. Muthee:
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3773/context/archive
What sort of person would lead a witchcraft crusade against a woman who: "... has so many adopted children, she educated us, fed us," Wambui says. "There are over 30 or 40 orphans ..." The article reveals that another one of her perceived crimes was to remove a child from a household with mental illness. Rev. Muthee, like Sarah Palin have built their reputations on fear. Also, they may define the words "Christian Charity" a bit differently than you and I.

[Soundofthunder]

I couldn't care less that it's a church. Burning down ANY building is a horrible thing to do because people tend to be in them. Whoever did this needs some time in prison, in Alaska. Just think how depressing that must be.

SOT

[glorysong]

Now what has Palin did now?

[Jo]

"Whoever did this needs some time in prison, in Alaska. Just think how depressing that must be.:

Yeah, too bad Alaska houses its prisoners in Arizona. Hey, with -20 degree weather, that could be the motive -- a free trip to Arizona, with food and lodging.

[uglicoyote]

Actually, there are a couple of medium to maximum security facilities in Alaska. There's a big one just outside of Juneau, Lemon Creek I believe it is called. I could be wrong about the name.

[ThirdSection]

If the arson was indeed perpetrated by someone on the basis of their opposition to Palin, these people need to get a grip. Opposing Palin may be good politics, but not the basis of jihad.

[Troubledwawa]

Not cool...

[Syrin]

Kroon said it's just one of the churches she attends. He declined to say how often she attends, or when she last came. http://www.adn.com/front/story/622635.html

[Syrin]

Go here for the local story- http://www.adn.com/front/story/622635.html
..Asked if Palin is a member of Wasilla Bible Church, Kroon said it's just one of the churches she attends. He declined to say how often she attends, or when she last came.

[MajorKong]

Arson = bad.

[readmewell22]

AAAAaamazing!

[readmewell22]

The sad thing is ...she'll use this situation to try to stay in the limelight. Somebody tell her, that her 15 minutes of fame is OVER!

[thegirlnextdoor]

What kind of people burn a church? This is appalling.

[beauregard62]

ummmmm bad people

[BlueZoo]

If this is indeed an arson, the person(s) responsible need to be found and prosecuted. I don't care if this was a Baptist, Catholic, Mormon or Wiccan church. When you bomb a church, you strike at the heart of our freedoms in this country. There is simply no excuse!

[Rockridger]

Boy, if it's arson, all I gotta say is, boy. We gotta get a grip!

[bogues]

Sarah Palin has no sense of knowing when to just be quiet. The statements she has made are clearly made to insinuate that this was a hate crime and she wants to be seen as a victim at every turn. There is no way of knowing, without an investigation, what caused this fire and she should have said something to that effect. I do hope that the Governor's office is not going to be involved in the investigation.

[glorialovelace]

If it is indeed arson, it was almost certainly a hate crime. It's the fire investigators who claim it is arson, not Palin.

[dogstar7]

If you do a Google News search on this story you will be amazed (or not) at the hyperbolic accusations being tossed about in all sorts of outlets. If the headlines and the coverages don't cast enough suspicion on some vast leftist Palin-hating underground, one need only read a few appended comments.

[glorialovelace]

Palin seems to have a lot of enemies, not all of whom are on the left.

[TruthAndTheory]

According the religious right, god is responsible for 9/11, because he wanted to kill gays, and god is responsible for Katrina, because he wanted to kill more gays, by that measure, perhaps god is responsible for this, too? Seems god is responsible for every bad act that occurs, natural or otherwise, because gays are the biggest threat to the universe, oh no.

Oops, forgot about Satan. Where's that dude been? The religious folks have been so busy blaming god for all the horrible atrocities in the world, they forgot there's a bad guy!