|
Possible Hate Crime at California Arab-American Church
LOS ALTOS HILLS, April 8 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A church located in Los Altos Hills, California, went up in flames Sunday, as reports relay the fire may be treated as a "hate crime."
The Antiochian Orthodox Church of the Redeemer's congregation is made up of over 200 Palestinian families and other Orthodox Christian Arab-Americans.
While no churchgoers or firefighters were hurt in the massive three-alarm fire, the church was completely destroyed, causing over one million dollars in damages.
Investigators from the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, along with Santa Clara County fire inspectors, began investigating the remains of the church to determine whether or not the fire is to be treated as arson, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
"There is no obvious cause. There's a lot of devastation here," ATF spokeswoman Marti McKee said. "The debris is probably covering up the point of origin," the daily reported.
"It would probably take two or three days for investigators to methodically comb through the debris. Police dogs may be called in to help detect any flammable liquids such as kerosene," the paper went on to report Steve Gubber, a spokesman for the Santa Clara County Fire Department, as saying.
Three hundred families are reported to be members of the church's congregation, with over 90% being of Middle Eastern background, many of whom are second and third generation Arab-Americans.
"I can't imagine anyone wanting to burn a church. This is place of worship. But I don't know," said congregation member John Mogannam of San Jose. "I hope it was just a wiring problem, but who knows? It could have been anything. . . .
I hope it's not related to the Middle East," he continued, according to the Chronicle.
His wife, Norma, went on to state, "It is our home," relaying that the couple's three sons were baptized in the church."
"If it was done purposefully, this is pure and raw terrorism," said church member Nabil Elserousi of San Jose, the Chronicle reported.
The church served as a meeting place for the Arab-Jewish Dialogue of the South Bay, an interfaith group that seeks to unite "people seeking peace." Its meetings were also held at a Los Gatos synagogue, the paper reported.
The paper also reported that the head of the church, Reverend Father Samer Youssef, later spoke at a worship service at St. Steven's Antiochian Orthodox Church in Cupertino.
"Our temple may have burned to the ground, but we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, " he said. "God resides in the altar of each of our hearts."
Investigators said there were no reports of prior threats against the church.
An eyewitness saw the fire at 4:30 a.m. and reported it to officials. It took nearly two hours and 55 firefighters to bring the fire under control, news agencies reported.
Since the September 11 attacks on the U.S., Arab Americans of all faiths and U.S. minorities that “look” Muslim, have been subjected to personal attacks as well as to attacks on their places of worship in what is considered to be ethnically inspired backlash.
At least six people have died in such attacks.
|
