Crawford, Ala. – The Rev. James D. Parker looked at a heap of ashes that was once a copy of the Bible atop the pulpit in the Greater Peace and Goodwill AME Church.
Parker says something good will come from his church being set on fire. Three churches have burned in four days in East Alabama.
The blazes started on New Year's Day and continued through Friday. Greater Peace and Goodwill received extensive fire and smoke damage in the Tuesday blaze.
Parker wants to talk to the person or persons responsible for the fires. Parker wants to know why, he says, then he wants to pray with them.
The cause of all of the fires is arson, says Ragan Ingram, spokesman for the State Fire Marshal's Office.
The churches are located within a 10-mile radius of each other in Russell and Lee counties.
Investigators aren't ready to say if the fires are related.
Greater Bethelpore Baptist Church in Smiths Station burned to the ground Thursday. Woodland Baptist Church in Ladonia, just inside the Lee County line, received minor damage in a Friday fire. Local, state and federal agencies are investigating the fires.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)