One person commented that they think it is an atheist who did the deed. 

I would suspect burglars, kids and members of the church before them. There can be a lot of conflict inside a church and some quiet abusive. I know this from being in on the inside. I even still have friends on the inside and the stories they tell would get your ire up. One guy I know is separated from his wife because the pastor and the elders told her to do so. Mind control of the worst ilk. 

I agree with you Brian.   I don't give a shit.

This is the same bullshit that ELF and other eco-terrorists pull out as though it justifies them to fuck with people's property

Not sure if you mean to direct that to me or not. I totally agree. These perpetrators must be caught and locked up. They are a danger to society.

THANK YOU for that IMPORTANT distinction.

Understanding WHY a human behaves a certain way in a given context is not the same as excusing a behavior.

I'd prefer there be no religion in the world and IT IS A WAR, but you can also conduct a war intellectually without actually acting out in real physical violence.

But lets not loose our empathy in stating this, believers ALSO see it as a war and just like you correctly stated, should also understand that as well.

I think humanity would be better off by accepting the difference.

I think it would be in this context  important to UNDERSTAND, even if we find god belief silly and dangerous, that believers have emotional reactions to these types of actions as well. I don't think you have to be a believer to UNDERSTAND it.

BUT if it is just a nutcase with a mental illness then it is about property. If Christians are assuming that it is a Muslim or atheist then it is a war. But in either case humans ARE predictable in their behavior. Not in a literal sense, just as a description that we do have the same range of emotions and actions, good or bad.

I don't have to agree with someone OR their actions to know the difference between behavior and understanding the behavior and accept that understanding and excusing are not the same thing.

I know we're straying off topic here but... Interestingly enough Yang Xinhai was born in a very christian part of Henan. See the dark area to the south of this pdf map indicating denser christian populations? Over to the left of that band you'll see a county called Zhengyang - that's where Yang Xinhai was born and raised.

Edit: Oh and P.S. that's not to say he was definitely raised in a christian environment. A single map can't establish that for sure, of course. However he can't certainly be an example of a Serial Killer who was definitely not influenced by christianity.

As a kid I nearly burned down my father's church on the Bangalow Rd at Clunes. My brother and I were 'camping' behind the church and our fire got carried away with its own success.

Fortunately my elder brother came along to help before things got out of hand.

On topic I don't like churches or mosques and at times I have felt upwelling urges to destroy them but I am happy enough seeing them converted to some 7-day-a-week purpose, like a house or a cafe or something.

Interestingly, we've had churches firebombed in Sydney by men of 'middle eastern appearance'. Somehow I don't think they were jews.

What, come on, we have stories of Jews in America all the time torching Mosques all the time. You lie. They are soooooo violent, you know, just like atheists are.

I can't prove that he wasn't influenced by Christianity but nothing in the evidence of the case or his quotes suggests such a connection.

I would suggest that as far as cultures go even a county that is 20-49% christian doesn't qualify as a christian environment.
After all the government of China can hardly be said to promote christianity in mainstream media and culture there.

His stated motive was revenge for a girlfriend who dumped him.   He had already seen prison time for rapes.
He said that killing people wasn't a big deal it was normal.
He said that he liked killing people.

Let me ask you a hypothetical. 
If there was a Hassidic Jew who was a serial killer in America would you say that even though America is largely christian influenced in culture (much more so than China)  that he was influenced by christianity or try to bring about the same premise that he was influenced by christianity based on American demographics?

I'm not sure that the generalized demographics can really tell us anything other than yep there are christians in the area.

The best you can do with bringing up the county demographics is cast a generalized doubt on the situation. 
This fact is also mitigated by the fact that China is culturally not open to religion in general.
No evidence in specific to the case suggests christian influence.

I see no compelling evidence to disqualify him as a strong example requested.

Doesn't seem like you have a very strong case.

I do wonder about pedophiles though.

I might spend some time doing research on that.

I wonder if there can be a connection shown between the twisted sexual repression of christians and pedophelia.

I don't know but it seems like it might be interesting to investigate.

I think it would be difficult to show a correlation between sexual deviancy and religion.  For example, BDSM is a form of sexual deviancy (note, I am not casting judgement here, and I have had some limited exposure to the community...Marquis could speak more on this).  This is simply a desire that the person has in the sexual realm, whether BDSM, D/s, or other forms.  From my experience, and from what I have also seen from the outside, these are simply sexual desires, and they can be there whether the person grows up with or without religion, as my wife enjoys some D/s play but grew up atheist.  I would say the pedophelia is the extreme, harmful end of sexual deviancy, as this involves people who do not have the capacity to consent.  I would put beastiality in there as well, as an animal has no way to consent on human terms.

Religion can lead to sexual repression, and the expression of sexual repression is much different than sexual deviancy.  People who are sexually repressed may feel undue guilt or fear with sex, and they may even go into a form of denial that sex isn't that important.  To me, this is the damage that can be done by religion, not sexual deviancy.

True Dat.

But as for these Church burnings, frankly I don't give a shit. To me it's like a kid toucher getting the crap beat out of him in prison...Don't Care.

Here is what bugs me. According to the article the charges give special treatment to "houses of worship".

WHAT THE FUCK? So it is less of a crime if you burn down your own house for insurance? It is less of a crime if you burn down your neighbor's house out of revenge? How about arson meaning arson without special treatment to religion?

Well, we are talking about Texas. If it was Kansas you might be burned at the stake in the churchyard - just kidding Kansas as Bill Maher would say.

You are correct, you would serve less time for burning down your neighbors house. In the case of your own house you might also get charged with insurance fraud if it was done to collect on it.

Usually arson with mitigating or special circumstances means someone dies in the course of the fire. In the case of church fires it is considered a hate crime as well in most states thus bringing on the special treatment aspect. If their sole purpose was burglary however the special treatment shouldn't apply as they were only trying to cover up the theft.