After Matthews’ arrest, law enforcement assured the community he was the sole assailant and stilled fears of more church fires. A search of his messages by law enforcement revealed that he set the fires as an homage to the church burnings conducted by Norwegian black metal artists in the 1990s, according to court records.

In Facebook messages, Matthews lamented to a friend that media outlets were trying to make the burnings about race. He also said he chose the three churches because they were made of wood and easier to burn than the area’s Catholic churches

Catholics, build more wooden churches you cowards