The Fire at Wasilla Bible Church: A Hate Crime caused by Slash and Burn Politics

My heart goes out to the congregation at the Wasilla Bible Church. A fire has taken their beloved place of worship and arson is suspected. It will take some time and one and a half million dollars to make the Church whole again.


It will take a lot more than that to mend the emotional trauma of what may be a vicious attack on the belief system that brought the faithful together.


Sarah Palin has apologized to her fellow congregants, if the arson was the result of her run for national office.


She has no reason to apologize for being true to what she believes in. She has no reason to apologize for being a strong family woman who goes to church.

It is the scumbags who set fire to the Church who need to apologize - in court - when they are being sentenced for not only arson - but a hate crime.

If this was an attack on the Church because of Palin's beliefs, this was an act of hate and should be prosecuted as a federal hate crime.

I know the faithful of the Wasilla Bible church will gather today in another location and forgive those who sinned against them. That is the Christian thing to do. They are better people than me.

It is the job of Pastor Larry Kroon to teach forgiveness as a renewal of faith. It is the job of the local police, the FBI and the prosecutors, both local and federal, to make certain the same laws apply to everyone.

If a swastika was painted on a synagogue, that would be a hate crime. If the Wasilla Bible Church was set on fire because of the negative press about the church and Sarah Palin's religious beliefs, this should be a hate crime.

More than that, the Internet moles and Democratic operatives who unfairly attacked Sarah Palin as a religious zealot should be ashamed of themselves. This is the result of that kind of ugly, hate-filled slash and burn politics. Hate begets hate.

Let's name names here.

The Huffington Post made the claim that "Palin's Church may have shaped Controversial World View." Controversial to whom? A left leaning talking head?

The Daily Kos also attacked Palin's Church in its sanctimonious, innuendo filled diatribe entitled: "Sarah Palin: Dominionist Stalking Horse." Intellectual hate is still hate. You can dress up the words and engage in the gymnastics of logic but it is still as ugly.

Lesser sites like BoingBoing.net have made much of YouTube video showing the Pentecostal Faithful speaking in tongues or welcoming a pastor from an African Nation. The video usually comes with commentary about zealotry, cultism or even witchcraft.

But be clear, this was used to tear down Sarah Palin in the name of politics, power and money. The Church was collateral damage. And now it is, quite literally, collateral damage.

Good people are suffering as slash and burn politics starts a fire that was not fully extinguished by any means in Wasilla.

It was a witch hunt, now complete with flames. Liberal democrats have become what they espouse to hate, McCarthyists. And I say to them: "Have you no shame?"