Tony Thurmond: “I am pleased and proud to be a cosponsor of an amendment originally sponsored by my friends Senator Faircloth of North…”

“I am pleased and proud to be a cosponsor of an amendment originally sponsored by my friends Senator Faircloth of North Carolina, and Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts, that addresses the disturbing crime of church burnings. It has become increasingly apparent that there has been a disturbing trend occurring throughout the United States over the past 18 months, the willful and malicious destruction of churches by arson. There is something particularly hateful in the crime of arson, for it is a crime that is usually motivated by factors other than personal gain. It takes an individual who possesses either tremendous rage, or tremendous mental and personal problems, to set someone's property on fire for the mere purpose of watching it burn to the ground. When the target of such an individual's attack is the holy land of a place of worship, the crime becomes all the more sick, unsettling, senseless, and vile. The amendment I have cosponsored seeks to draw a tough line against those who commit acts of arson against churches in our Nation.”