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

[ralph10]

For those who get the Sunday Comic section read Doonesbury, it hits the nail on the head.

[labman57]

HuffPost's Pick

Folks, we need to take a step back, take a deep breath, and let the arson investigation take its course before making wild accusations about pro-Obama or pro-Palin conspiracies. I'm as far from a Palin fan as possible, but until evidence suggests otherwise, this isn't about HER. It's about an act of violence that risked the lives of those inside. The motives of the arsonist(s) can be debated once some actual facts are known.

[deosil]

Why did Palin immediately issue a statement like that, BEFORE they even KNOW if it´s arson? It could have an electrical fire, they don´t know ANYTHING YET????????????????.
Why did she jump on that?

[glorialovelace]

Because the fire department -- who are the experts -- has said that they believe arson is involved.

[glorialovelace]

The fire professionals are certain it is arson. Why they don't know is who set the fire.

And Palin's apology included the word "if", as in "if this was related to my running for Veep."

Some of you people really need to chill. All of this rabid hate could give you ulcers.

[MCpiano]

Well said. Just let the investigation take it's course before there can be any meaningful discussion.

[eden4barack08]

Tell that to Palin, will ya please?

[richardmcnoggin]

This is obviously a hate crime; It would be if it was PEBO's church.

[thaneb]

"Nov. 5 fire destroyed the Macedonia Church of God in Christ's new building.... [Sringfield MA] Investigators later ruled the fire was intentionally set, but found no evidence of a hate crime." Even though a day after the election, and with a predominantly black congregation, "hate crime" needs evidence. It is not "obvious".

[glorialovelace]

If a fire at a church is intentionally set, how can it NOT be a hate crime?

[BlueGirlRedState]

So like Sarah to personalize this crime to keep the spotlight on herself. Does everything in Wasilla rise and fall on Sarah Palin?

[closetodemfection]

Huh?

[filo]

You betcha' !!

[peeweeH]

You betcha is the remark Obama made in 2002 when asked if Blago was the right man for Governer of iL.

[megacephalus]

"Act of God" is the name of the insurance clause, I believe...

[JulieSA]

She's the governor of the state. It would be inappropriate for a governor to keep silent about her own church being torched.

[max]

step back and wait for more details....they may surprise you

[readmewell22]

Exactly!

[4akinderworld]

Really? What do you know already?

[RW69]

This will only serve to give the fundamentalist haters fuel for their victim status. They are allowed to be the perpetrators of hate and do their fair share of victimizing but when they are on the receiving end it's "poor me". Same thing with the Mormons. They can make hate with prop 8 but now that there is some back lash, they like to be the innocent victim. It would be nice if they could be left alone but you dish the hate you get some in return.

[harhar2]

I'm a sure this story will get a lot of press coverage. In mid summer someone opened fire in a small church and three people were killed while practicing for a play. The perpetrator stated he hated liberals. There was very little press coverage about that. Irregardless, no crime like this can be justified.

[Milrepa]

It's important for people angry with Fundamentalist Christians to remember that ALL religions have arcane beliefs, not just some. An elephant god who can remove obstacles (Hindu)? A divine perfect city that actually exists somewhere in the Himalaya where saints can fly (Shambala..Buddhist)? A thousand virgins waiting in Paradise? These religions ALL,.also, have their "demons" and "witches." Remember carefully Joseph Campbell who said, "All myths are true," when you try to downplay "The Hero's Journey," which is the journey of all observant religious people.
The importance of deeply respecting ALL religions is that "the Hero" (you and me) seeks and defines his (her) boundaries. If you destroy religion in a culture, the bureaucracies will define the boundaries, and civil laws will proliferate beyond your wildest imagination. Good for you atheists who already do this well, but en masse it would be a different picture.

[bbridges1962]

Oh...don't worry about the damage...I am sure Palin will figure out how to make the people of Alaska pay for it.

[rabiddog6708]

Just like she billed them for over 300 nights she spent in her own home instead of Gov's mansion.

[JulieSA]

Which saved the state 80% of the what it cost to maintain the previous governor. She saved the state massive amounts of money, and shrunk her carbon footprint.

So then people who know only half the story trash her for it. Truly, no good deed goes unpunished.

[quick2no]

Find the perpetrators and bring them to justice. Conjecture is a moot point.

[ubuntu]

SP is known to have been "Pallin' around with turkeys."

[chevyval]

Tragic.

[indieminded]

If the investigation finds this was arson, I do hope they catch the perpetrator. There is NO excuse for purposely burning down any building.

However, to claim this church was targeted due to one of it's now famous, not so liked members is recklessly premature. There are a number of reasons this building could have burned. The conservative blogosphere should use caution in their accusations. Do they not remember the McCain campaign worker who beat herself up and carved her own face with a knife to try and stir hate for Obama supporters during the election?

The best of luck to this church in it's rebuilding efforts.

[JulieSA]

The conservative blogosphere is being careful in it's accusations, because arson is usually not ideologically motivated, and there's no evidence that this one was. There are rumors that the church received a lot of threats, but actually not much is know at this point.

On the other hand, earlier this year, an unknown person almost destroyed the TX Governor's mansion with a fire bomb, and the museum in George Bush's childhood home was also torched this year.

Again, no one knows who did these things, but there's a disturbing pattern here.

[cjk002]

Not all of them are being careful in it's accusations:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/13/AR2008121302503_Comments.html

[Quaoar]

Careful like this?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2148585/posts

[vicki77]

You're right. Arson is usually about money. So someone in money trouble can get the insurance money out of it. That's not how it works with a church. Nobody will make money off of this. The church will be lucky if it can replace what they lost with the money they get, if they even had insurance. Many don't.
When an attack is made on a public building it is usually a political/ideological statement of some sort. Odds are very high that this is a statement against Palin or a statement against the church for some of its conservative views, maybe its program for rehabilitating gays.

[UncleJimbo]

Maybe the Fire Investigators should check for Brimstone!

[rollingdivision]

Does anyone think a similar fire at Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, which Barack Obama attended for almost two decades until earlier this year, would have been as quietly covered?

[indieminded]

Quitely covered? Go to Google and type in Wassila Bible Church Burned and there are already 16,300 hits. This arson just happened and it's the week-end.

You are looking for monsters under the bed here.

[Aranxa]

It's listed on the Yahoo and CNN home pages as a top story and is also the second sorry on the New York Times online headlines. So stop making things up rollingdivision. There was an African American church burned by arson here in Springfield, MA the night of Obama's election. I'm sure there were others around the country too. Where did you see those headlines?

[chevyval]

yes. more so.

[jdw1981]

Well, a President-elect is significantly more important than a governor.

[MajorKong]

It was all over NPR this morning.

Now take a deep breath and slowly back out of the Drudge/Fox/Limbaugh media bubble.

[shucknjive]

"NPR"??? Never heard of it.....