Wasilla church: Accelerants found at entrances, exits

The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting in the investigation of the fire at Sarah Palin's home church, Wasilla Bible Church, in Alaska. The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has found accelerants in multiple locations on the outside of Wasilla Bible Church, including around entrances and exits. This was arson and five church members were inside when the blaze started. There were as many cars in the parking lot, so the arsonist must have know that people were inside. You can read the details in the Anchorage Daily News.

Was if a hate crime? Terry Mattngly at Get Religion has pointed out that this may have been a hate crime, an idea raised by the AP reporting including the fact that the Wasilla Bible 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.”

Or was it a family matter? We know that the people in the building at the time were a small group of women who were working on crafts according to the AP story. So an alternative hypothesis might be a nasty divorce where the man wished to eliminate the contesting party. I think of this because when I think of Wasilla, I think of Sarah Palin's sister and her "messy divorce" from the state trooper. I did notice that the Anchorage Daily News story concluded:

The investigation into the fire is being conducted by a joint task force. The Central Mat-Su Fire Department and Wasilla Police Department are heading up the investigation with help from the ATF and state fire marshal's office. State troopers responded to the scene but are not involved in the investigation, spokeswoman Megan Peters said.

So maybe I am not the only one who thought of the state trooper/ divorce problems in Wasilla