A Douglas man, Eric Duane Ridenour, was sentenced this week to 438 months in prison after he was convicted in July of six arson and hate crimes counts stemming from the burning of two churches on May 22, 2023.
In 2023, Ridenour burned down two churches in Douglas, Arizona: Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church and First Presbyterian Church. The churches were located on Church Square, a historic district in the border town of Douglas, approximately two hours southeast of Tucson. It is believed to have been the only intersection in the nation containing churches from four different denominations: Southern Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Methodist.
Trial testimony established that Ridenour intentionally started the fires in both churches because of his hostility towards their practice of having women and members of the LGBTQ community serve in church leadership roles. Ridenour was arrested on May 23, 2023.
Guy’s seriously disturbed: hated women, beat-up his girlfriend, hated women as priests/ministers, hated gays & any form of tolerance even inside the walls of a church. Now he’s warehoused by the state at taxpayer expense; should be executed and let the Universe sort it out. The system has “diffused” his cost to all of us; where’s the justice in this?
“Hate crimes” is a political term, not a moral one. It’s a way of imposing penalties for political, not ethical, violations. The criminal was sentenced, “because of his hostility towards their practice of having women and members of the LGBTQ community serve in church leadership roles.” But if he had committed the same crime because a church would not permit women and members of the LGBTQ community serve in church leadership roles, his sentencing would not have been as extreme. That’s wrong; that implies that the actual crime is more morally acceptable if, ‘done for the right reasons’.
Maybe he will find God there.