Many of the attacks on churches have been religiously or racially motivated, the Center notes, such as a string of arson attacks at six predominantly black churches in the Saint Louis area this month, although federal law enforcement agencies have ruled these fires to be unrelated and police are as yet unwilling to say whether the attacks are racially driven. Acts of arson are also significantly more common in churches than in other structures, and in recent years only 5-10% of residential and non-residential fires were intentionally set, as compared to the 51% of church fires that were deemed acts of arson.