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Sarah Palin's Church Heavily Damaged, Arson Suspected

By Robert Paul Reyes

"Sarah Palin's family will have to attend church in a local school this morning after a fire ripped through her church on Friday evening.

The fire, estimated to have caused $1 million in damages to the Wasilla Bible Church, has been labeled "suspicious" by James Steele, chief of the Central Mat-Su Fire Department." The Christian Science Monitor

Videos posted at YouTube have given us a glimpse into some of the weird and troubling doctrines preached at Wasilla Bible Church. I saw a video in which a visiting evangelist bragged about how he drove a "witch" out of a village in Africa. It's unbelievable that in the 21st century some women are persecuted because they are suspected of being witches.

I'm aghast at the Neanderthal theology emanating from the pulpit of Wasilla Bible Church, but violence is never the answer. I condemn in the strongest possible terms the person responsible for setting fire to Palin's church. I hope the culprit is a kid with mental problems, and not an adult who doesn't care for Palin's politics.

We can and we will defeat the intolerant and divisive rhetoric spewing forth from some corners of the evangelical world, but we will prevail over our ideological foes with words and at the ballot box.

Historically it's been conservatives who resort to fire to burn books and churches; progressives must unequivocally condemn this act of violence.

I pray that a liberal church will allow the Wasilla Bible Church to use their building for worship services. All of us, liberal and conservative, evangelicals and mainline Christians, must unite against acts of violence perpetrated against any group or organization.

Robert Paul Reyes is a NewsBlaze writer on Politics, Pop Culture and Pointless Pontificating. Contact him by writing to NewsBlaze.

Robert Reyes