For the fun of it

Burning churches turns into a kick for young nihilists | Gene Edward Veith

This is just so hard to believe," said the state fire marshal, Richard W. Montgomery, after Alabama authorities caught the arsonists who burned nine churches. "My profile on these suspects is shot all to heck and back."

The church burners were three bright college students from good families: Benjamin N. Moseley, Russell L. DeBusk Jr. (both 19, from the Methodist-related Birmingham-Southern College), and Matthew Lee Cloyd (age 20, from the University of Alabama, Birmingham).

Mr. Moseley and Mr. DeBusk were theater majors, active in campus productions. They got roles in a movie and were making a film themselves. On the day they were arrested, they were profiled in the campus newspaper under the headline, "BSC students Russ DeBusk and Ben Moseley are on the road to stardom." Mr. Cloyd was an academic standout, a pre-med major.