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The reign of terror against rural Alabama churches appears to be over. Three college men—all honor students, and two of them students at a United Methodist school, Birmingham-Southern College—have confessed to setting nine churches on fire.

Birmingham-Southern College has long prided itself on the actions of students who have gone all over the world—and as far away as Mother Teresa’s mission in Calcutta—to perform good deeds as part of the college’s social-service emphasis.

Now the United Methodist–related school in Alabama is dealing with the aftermath of an episode in which students have been accused of burning churches. “I can’t imagine that there won’t be a discussion of its implications, and self-reflection,” said college president David Pollick.