Suspected Church Arsonist Dabbled In Satanism

DALEVILLE, Ind. (EP) -- An Indiana man who is suspected of setting dozens of church fires was involved in devil worship and lured young people into a cult-like group with a blood oath, according to authorities.

Jay Scott Ballinger, 36, was arrested in late February after checking into a hospital to be treated for serious burns, allegedly suffered during a church burning. Accomplices in at least one fire have admitted scrawling satanic symbols on churches.

A police spokesman said Ballinger would have young people sign contracts saying they were giving their souls to Satan.

Police recognized Ballinger's name from a previous church arson investigation after receiving a call for medical aid from his home shortly after a church fire.

Ballinger has been charged in seven church arsons in the Indiana area, but is a suspect in up to 50 church fires in 11 states. Authorities say Ballinger has admitted setting fires in churches.

Ballinger is a suspect in five church fires on consecutive days that occurred within a two-hour drive of what was then his home in Georgia. A volunteer fireman died in one of the fires, making that crime felony murder as well as arson.

National Council of Churches General Secretary Joan Campbell hailed Ballinger's arrest. "When arson destroys a church, it devastates the congregation and damages the surrounding community," Campbell noted. "Rebuilding can bring back the physical church, but rebuilding is more than physical repair. Rebuilding includes crisis intervention when souls are shattered by fire, are isolated by the interruption of worship or stunned by the anger expressed by the arson."

The National Church Arson Task Force, created in 1996 to investigate church fires, issued a report in October saying it had convicted 235 arsonists in 173 church burnings. The number of church fires, bombings and bombing attempts have declined in recent years. The task force looked for, but did not find, evidence of a nationwide conspiracy to burn African-American churches.

In related news:

* An Arkansas minister was charged March 3 with setting his own church on fire more than two years ago. The Rev. Eric Daniel Harris was indicted for the arson fire which destroyed the Kentucky Missionary Baptist Church near Benton, Arkansas in 1996. Authorities initially believed the crime was part of a nationwide rash of church fires that destroyed many black churches in the south. Harris is white, and his congregation is predominantly white.

* Harvest Metropolitan Community Church in Denton, Texas, a homosexual congregation, has been the target of vandalism and arson. The church's rainbow flag was stolen in January. After it was replaced, the flag was set on fire, which also damaged a flagpole. More recently, gasoline was thrown on the church sign and driveway and ignited. The crime is being investigated by the FBI's Hate Crimes Task Force.