(AgapePress) - The director of the Christian Defense Coalition says it is troubling that the White House has been silent when it comes to a string of recent church arsons in Alabama.

In recent weeks, ten rural churches in that state have been destroyed or damaged by suspicious fires. Also, last weekend, a Christian business in Alabama was destroyed in a fire, which officials are investigating as arson.

Pastor Pat Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, believes in light of these apparent arson attacks against churches and other religious establishments that a statement of support from the White House would be comforting and would offer some measure of reassurance.

"We think it's important for President Bush to come out publicly and address this issue," Mahoney says. In so doing, he asserts, the White House could "assure the good citizens of Alabama that the federal government is doing all within their power," and at the same time, "send a very strong signal and message across the country [that] we won't tolerate this kind of bigotry."

Mr. Bush wastes little time speaking out against religious bigotry directed at Muslims, the Coalition spokesman contends. He feels the President should likewise send a clear message when Christian churches in the U.S. come under attack.

What makes Bush's silence in the wake of the Alabama church fires even more troubling, Mahoney asserts, "is that the President did speak out -- which I applaud him for -- about the religious intolerance of the cartoons concerning the Prophet Mohammed. Our concern is that the President has addressed that, but yet the President has said nothing about ten churches, five burned to the ground. He's said absolutely nothing."

The Christian Defense Coalition's director adds that he wonders what the White House response would have been if ten U.S. abortion clinics or ten mosques had been torched, rather than 10 Christian churches.

Another Christian group, the Christian Coalition of Alabama, has put up matching funds to enhance the rewards being offered by the government and insurance companies for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the Alabama church fires. Meanwhile, law enforcement officials are continuing to follow a number of significant leads in their investigation of the arson attacks.

Also, investigators have consulted with the Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate crimes and monitors extremist groups. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is exploring whether the fires can be designated as a federal hate crime.

Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.

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