RELIGIONrnBurn, Baby, Burnrnby Mark TooleyrnFor several months, the nation hasrnbeen wracked by the widespreadrnperception that black churches acrossrnthe South were under widescale attackrnby racist arsonists. President Clinton dutifullyrnvisited a victimized South Carolinarncongregation, and Congress speedilyrnvoted increased prison terms for churchrnburners. Groups from across the politicalrnspectrum, from the Ford Foundationrnon the left to the Christian Coalition onrnthe right, expressed outrage and pledgedrnmoney for church reconstruction.rnKudos to all who are helping rebuildrnthe black churches. Their generosity hasrnbeen a bright light in an otherwise dimrnand tawdry story. For we now know thatrnthere was never any evidence that blackrnchurches were burning measurably morernfrequently than white churches, muchrnless that a white supremacist conspiracyrnwas afoot to destroy black houses of worship.rnSo why the media hype?rnFirst, the facts. According to a USArnToday survey, over the last 18 monthsrnthere have been (as of July 1) 66 blackrnchurches burned under suspicious circumstancesrnin the South. But the NationalrnFire Protection Association reportsrnthat about 600 churches (out of the nation’srn365,000 churches) suffer arsonrnfires every year. This figure representsrnjust a tiny fraction of the 500,000 cases ofrnarson reported annually. Like arsonsrnoverall, church arsons have declined dramaticallyrnin recent years, from a figure ofrnover 1,400 in 1980.rn”That’s the real story,” black civilrnrights leader Roy Innis of Houston toldrnReuters as he, nearly alone among majorrnreligious and civil rights leaders, noticedrnthat church burnings have actually declinedrnin number. “For the Americanrnpeople to think this is some one-sidedrnracial thing where black churches are beingrnburned—and not white churches—isrna mistake.”rnAlthough white church burnings outnumberrnblack church arsons in the Southrn(45 to 27 in 1995), on the surface blackrnchurches do seem to suffer more in proportionrnto blacks’ share of the populationrn(one of every four persons in the South isrnblack). But USA Today pointed out thatrnblack churches in the South are smallerrnand, proportionate to population, morernnumerous. The black churches are alsornmore likely to be remotely located, constructedrnof wood, older, and situated inrneconomically troubled neighborhoods.rnAll of these factors make them more vulnerablernto arsonists of all races.rnAn Associated Press survey found thatrnin only 20 cases of arson involving blackrnchurches was racism the clear motivationrnfor the crime. (Contrast this figure withrnthe claim made on CBS ‘This Morning,rnon June 10, by the Reverend Mac Jonesrnof the left-leaning National Council ofrnChurches, that “99 percent of these firesrnare . . . racially motivated.”) The samernsurvey found that arsons were up slightlyrnamong both black and white churches.rnLike USA Today, the Associated Pressrnfound no evidence of a conspiracy or climaternof racial hatred behind the burnings.rnOf 30 persons arrested so far for thernassaults upon black churches, only twornhave links to any organized racist grouprn(in their case, the Ku Klux Klan).rnMost of the arsonists have beenrndrunken teenagers, self-professed devilworshipers,rnburglars, and pyromaniacs.rnTwentv of the arrested persons are white,rnwhile ten are black. Fifteen are juveniles.rnAccording to the Insurance InformationrnInstitute, this year’s toll of church arsonsrnin the nation is within the normally expectedrnrange.rnThese facts did not interest therncreators of the church burnings story,rnprincipally the National Council ofrnChurches and its “partners,” the AtlantabasedrnCenter for Democratic Renewalrnand the New York-based Center for ConstitutionalrnRights. “We haven’t lookedrnat white church burnings because that’srnout of our purview,” an NCC spokesmanrnexplained to the Orange County Register.rn”We can’t do everything.” The NCCrnand the centers preferred to exploitrnrelatively isolated attacks upon blackrnchurches to smear conservatives, especiallyrnChristian ones, as racists, and tornportray an irredeemably racist Americarnthat stands on the precipice of race war.rnThe Reverend Jones told the NCC’srnboard meeting in May that the blackrnchurch burnings, which he called “domesticrnterrorism,” resulted from a “climaternof hostility, violence, and racismrnsweeping the country.” As causes for thern”domestic terrorism,” he cited “homophobia,rnthe militias, presidential politicsrnand talk of welfare reform and the crimernbill,” all of which have festered up fromrnan America “that has refused to dealrnwith its racism.” The NCC has declaredrnthe church burnings to be a “nationalrndisaster.”rnThe Center for Democratic Renewalrnhas been more specific in the blamerngame. “There is a slippery slide, a finernline, between conservative politics, conservativernChristians and hate groups inrnAmerica,” says the Reverend C.T. Vivian,rnwho chairs the center, “They haverncreated an atmosphere that allows themrnto think they can destroy black peoplernand that it will only be winked at.” Neverrnmind that conservative Christianrngroups such as the Southern BaptistrnConvention, the Christian Coalition,rnPromise Keepers, and the National Associationrnof Evangelicals are busily raisingrnmoney for burned black churches.rnVivian’s group, which was formerlyrnknown as “Klanwatch,” describes itself asrna monitor of “far-right” organizations.rnBut according to its publicity materials,rnthe Center for Democratic Renewal’srndefinition includes not only the Klanrnand militias but radio-talk show hosts,rn”homophobes,” and anyone interestedrnin “unfunded mandates” and “10thrnAmendment Resolutions,” Rush Limbaughrnand Bob Dole, who frequentlyrnquotes from the 10th Amendment, arerntherefore part of the same toxic stew asrnany KKK grand wizard.rnThe Center for Democratic Renewalrnhas produced much of the arson datarnthat has appeared in the national media.rnIronically, its estimates of church burningsrnactually fall short of the figures fromrnboth USA Today and the AP. But unlikernthe more responsible news organizations,rnthe Center for Democratic Renewal neverrnbothered to compare black churchrnburnings to church arsons in the nationrnoverall. And although only two arrestedrnarsonists have been linked to the Klan,rnthe center claims to have found a “strongrnconnection between church attacks andrnwhite supremacist groups.” To an uninformedrnpublic, the center’s out-of-contextrnnumbers appeared to confirm arndangerous upsurge in antiblack violence.rnMeanwhile, the Center for ConstitutionalrnRights is planning to file lawsuitsrnagainst racist church arsonists to furtherrnspotlight the alleged church burningsrnphenomenon. But the chief orchestratorrnof most publicity surrounding thernchurch burnings has been the NCC, anrnalliance of 33 mostly Protestant denomi-rnOCTOBER 1996/43rnrnrn