wfn.org | Lutherans Join NCC Response to Church Burnings

[ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

June 13, 1996

LUTHERANS JOIN NCC RESPONSE TO CHURCH BURNINGS
96-15-44-FI

        CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's response to the
firebombing of African-American churches is being coordinated through the National
Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. (NCC) of which the ELCA is a member.
Gaylord Thomas, ELCA director for community development services, is assigned to work
with the NCC.
        "I support the action of our South Carolina Synod in opposing these 'acts of
hatred and destruction' and vowing to 'improve the climate of racial and ethnic
relationships within our congregations and their surrounding communities,'" said ELCA
Presiding Bishop H. George Anderson.
        A similar resolution from the ELCA's New England Synod was hand-delivered June
9 to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno.  "These incidents do not seem to be
investigated," it said.  The synod expressed "its sorrow and sympathy to the Christians
whose churches may have been destroyed by felonious actions."
        The ELCA Domestic Disaster Response Fund has already designated $10,000 to
assist the NCC and Church World Service in its investigation of the fires and in helping
to rebuild damaged churches.
        Thomas is devoting one-third of his time over the next six months.  The ELCA
Division for Church in Society is paying his travel expenses.
        The Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, NCC general secretary, and United Methodist
Bishop Melvin G. Talbert, NCC president, testified May 21 before the U.S. House
Judiciary Committee on the attacks of churches.
        "It is our contention," they said, "that these are not isolated, random
incidents bur rather pieces in a pattern of hate crimes that have been under-reported by
the media and overlooked by law enforcement.  It is a sad state of affairs that in 1996
this nation is quietly and, in many cases, unwittingly accepting the racist destruction
of houses of worship."
        They came to these conclusions after conducting investigations into church
fires in several Southern states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana,
Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee.  More than 20 churches were burned since
January 1996, and more than 55 were vandalized since January 1990.
        "Our investigations have uncovered striking similarities in these incidents --
parallels that constitute a pattern of abuses -- including the use of Molotov cocktails
and other incendiary devices, the spray painting of racist graffiti, the targeting of
churches with a history of strong advocacy for African American rights, and racist notes
and letters left in the mailboxes of pastors," said Campbell and Talbert.  "Many
churches were attacked on or around January 15, Martin Luther King Jr. Day -- five of
those in 1996 and five in 1995."
        The NCC/Church World Service has a toll-free phone number people can call for a
regularly updated recording -- 800-456-1310.  That recording will give volunteer
information when it's available.
        The ELCA's South Carolina Synod passed the resolution to which Bishop Anderson
referred during its annual assembly June 7-9 in Greenville, S.C.  The assembly offered
"prayers of encouragement and support" for the congregations most directly affect by the
vandalism.
        The New England Synod Assembly was held June 6-8 in Sturbridge, Mass.

                        When listing organizations receiving funds
                          for aid to survivors of major disasters
                         including the United States, Puerto Rico
                        or the U.S. Virgin Islands, please include:

                              ELCA Disaster Response Fund
                                    P.O. Box 71764
                               Chicago, IL   60694-1764

For information contact: Ann Hafften, Dir., ELCA News Service, (312) 380-2958; Frank
Imhoff, Assoc. Dir., (312) 380-2955; Lia Christiansen, Asst. Dir., (312) 380-2956