Tracking the Fires
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The Center for Democratic Renewal (CDR)--a national nonprofit hate-crimes
research and advocacy organization in Atlanta, Georgia--has been tracking church
burnings and other crimes of hate since 1979. From 1990 to 1997, CDR's records
show that more than 200 Black and multiracial churches have been burned or
firebombed in the United States. More than half the incidents (115) occurred in the
South in 1996. Churches of various denominations have been targeted, including
United Methodist churches, but 67 percent of the overall total have been Black
Baptist churches. Research indicates that church arson is generally committed at
night by White males between the ages of 14 and 45, working in groups of two to
five people.
In January 1996, the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States (NCC) sent a task force to the Inner City Church of Knoxville, Tennessee,
which had been burned on January 8. They called on federal law-enforcement
officials to investigate the firebombing of Inner City and other Black and
multiracial churches. Council teams visited several dozen more burned churches
throughout the spring of 1996. In June, the NCC brought 38 pastors from burned
churches--including the Rev. Harry Baldwin of Gay's Hill Baptist--to Washington,
DC, to tell their stories to President Clinton and to bring national attention to the
rising number of church burnings.
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Burned Churches Fund
In May 1996, the NCC established the Burned Churches Fund to help restore churches that were burned in crimes of hate. Several national organizations joined the NCC and its member denominations to support the fund, including Jewish,
Islamic, Catholic, Orthodox, and Black religious organizations. The NCC was then
chaired by United Methodist Bishop Melvin G. Talbert of the California-Nevada
Conference.
The NCC has received more than $8 million in donations for the Burned
Churches Fund, including $3.2 million donated by more than 25 philanthropic
organizations. The grants are distributed to churches through a Burned Churches
Fund Grants Committee, chaired by Bishop Talbert and the Rev. Dr. Joan B.
Campbell, the NCC's General Secretary. It includes prominent civil-rights leaders,
such as Ambassador Andrew Young and Vernon E. Jordon, as well as Protestant,
Jewish, Unitarian, and Roman Catholic religious leaders.
Most of the 90 or so churches that the NCC has been working with were
burned in 1996, though some are still rebuilding from arson that took place as long
ago as 1988. Despite the national attention, church arson continues. CDR statistics
for the first five months of 1997 show more than 20 cases of church arson--most
incidents still occurring in the South to Black and multiracial churches.
The much-admired steeple of the new Gay's Hill Baptist Church in Millen, Georgia.
Next: United Methodists Pitch In
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Christie R. House is the associate editor of New World Outlook. This article is reprinted from the January-February 1998 issue of NEW WORLD OUTLOOK, the Mission Magazine of The United Methodist Church, by permission of the Editors. Copyright © 1998 New World Outlook. The photos on this page were taken by Christie R. House. All photographs are copyright © The General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church and courtesy, New World Outlook magazine.
