AP:

An accelerant was poured around the exterior of Gov. Sarah Palin’s church before fire heavily damaged the building, federal investigators said Monday. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said the accelerant was poured at several locations around the church, including entrances. …

The blaze was set Friday night at the main entrance of the Wasilla Bible Church while a small group, including two children, were inside. No one was injured.

I don’t understand why this story is receiving such light treatment. I wonder if it’s because of the church’s association with Gov. Palin. I can’t imagine such ho-hum treatment if this were, say, Jeremiah Wright’s church. Maybe the media are still stuck in Bill Ayers Defense Mode whereby they still reflexively downplay anything that reminds them of the activities of The Weathermen, such as trying to burn up places with children inside.

But even without the “politics” surrounding this church-burning (which normally would make it, if anything, even more execrable), the facts are these:

  • Someone deliberately torched a church
  • While people were still in it
  • Including children
  • They even tried to block the exits with fire in order to prevent anyone from exiting

That is pure evil. It should be big news. It should be denounced. The health of this society demands that such action not escape our notice nor our communal outrage. Regardless of whether the arsonists had partisan motives, the response by our media to such an outrage as this should not be influenced by petty politics. If the horror of innocent children burning to death (thank God no one was hurt!) cannot transcend politics, then nothing can.