wfn.org | Fire Destroys Historic Black Presbyterian Church

[PCUSA_NEWS@ecunet.org]

Date: 8-Jun-96 
 
96236             Fire Destroys Historic Black  
                 Presbyterian Church in Charlotte 
                                  
                         by Julian Shipp 
 
CHARLOTTE, N.C.--Matthews-Murkland Presbyterian Church, the second oldest 
African American Presbyterian Church in Charlotte Presbytery, was destroyed 
by fire June 6. No injuries were reported and arson has been determined as 
the cause of the blaze. 
 
     Officer Mickey Casey, public affairs officer of the 
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, told Presbyterian News Service 
that a "13-year-old white girl" is currently being detained in a juvenile 
detention facility in Charlotte. Casey said the juvenile, a Charlotte 
resident who was described by police as "deeply troubled," was served with 
a petition for violating "the burning of churches and certain other 
buildings law." 
 
     Casey said that at this point there is no information to indicate any 
other person was involved in the crime or that the incident is connected to 
any local or national conspiracy. She said there is no evidence that the 
incident was racially motivated and that two Charlotte-Mecklenburg patrol 
officers obtained the initial information that led to the teenager's 
arrest. Casey said the investigation will continue in order to obtain all 
possible evidence regarding the incident. 
 
     The blaze was reported at the church around 11 p.m. Eastern Daylight 
Time June 6. According to Stan E. Hankins, associate for disaster response 
U.S.A. in the Worldwide Ministries Division, the building that burned was a 
stand-alone structure and separate from the current church, which replaced 
the old sanctuary nearly 20 years ago.  
 
     Hankins told the Presbyterian News Service that while the white 
clapboard church was no longer used for worship services, it was the site 
for special occasions such as weddings. 
 
     "Charlotte Presbytery is experiencing deep pain and a sense of loss 
over the burning of the historical sanctuary of the Matthews-Murkland 
Presbyterian Church," said Jocelyn Hill, leadership development presbyter 
of Charlotte Presbytery. "Matthews-Murkland's 93-year-old sanctuary was one 
of the real historic treasures of our presbytery. 
 
     "[The church's] beauty can never be replaced," Hill said. "But our 
deep sympathies and concerns are with its pastors and members, as well as 
all of our African American churches that are suffering at this time." 
 
     The Charlotte Presbytery Council has established a crisis fund to 
receive gifts for burned churches both within and beyond the bounds of the 
presbytery. Donations can be sent to Matthews-Murkland Presbyterian Church 
Fund, Charlotte Presbytery, 5700 Executive Center Drive, Suite 200, 
Charlotte, N.C. 28212-8801. 
 
     According to Faye Ollis, financial secretary of Charlotte Presbytery, 
investigators were unable to enter the church the night of the blaze due to 
intense heat and lack of light. Investigators combed through the charred 
debris at daybreak, seeking clues to the fire. They also interviewed church 
members and pastors. 
 
     "We were hoping and praying that [the Matthews-Murkland fire] was not 
an arson," Ollis said.  "And I know the congregation can use all the 
prayers and support that they can get right now."  
 
     On June 9, the Rev. Larry Hill, pastor of Matthews-Murkland 
Presbyterian Church, preached a sermon of forgiveness and reconciliation 
just 100 yards from the ashen remains of the white clapboard church that 
dates back to 1903. Songs, tears and laughter filled the newer sanctuary as 
services were held for the first time since the fire. 
 
     "To whoever started this fire -- it took you about $1.50 worth of gas 
and two boxes of matches to destroy a building," Hill said during an 
emotional sermon to an overflow crowd of more than 200 mostly black 
worshipers. "What you don't know is that all you destroyed was a building. 
You did not destroy the church!" 
      
     The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has investigated 
more than 30 fires throughout the South since January 1995, according to 
Deval Patrick, assistant attorney general for civil rights. The case is now 
the Justice Department's biggest civil rights probe and one of its largest 
civil inquiries. 
 
     Continuing its comprehensive response to the burnings, the National 
Council of Churches (NCC) brought more than 30 ministers from burned and 
vandalized churches to Washington, D.C. June 9-10 to meet with one another 
and top government officials, including Justice and Treasury department 
heads. 
 
     On June 9, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno also announced the 
creation of the Church Arson Task Force, a joint effort of the Treasury and 
Justice departments, which will report to President Clinton about the 
status of the investigations.  
 
     The NCC, which is composed of 33 Protestant and Orthodox member 
denominations, including the PC(USA), has also established the Burned 
Churches Fund (Attn.: Joan Campbell, NCC General Secretary, Room 880, 475 
Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115) to help rebuild destroyed and damaged 
churches and support a $1 million campaign to stop the attacks. 
 
     The Rev. James D. Brown, GAC executive director, scheduled a meeting 
with national staff leaders June 12 to discuss the PC(USA)'s response to 
the church fires, including more ways to aid the victimized churches 
financially. 
 
     "It is imperative that we do everything possible to support the 
Matthews-Murkland congregation as well as other congregations whose 
buildings have been burned," Brown said. 
 
     Details of the meeting were not available by press time. However, the 
Rev. Otis Turner, associate for racial justice in the National Ministries 
Division, told the Presbyterian News Service that the fires cannot be 
coincidental or random acts of violence due to the frequency of the blazes 
and their geographic locations. 
 
     "The statistical probability of this many black churches catching fire 
from any other random source, like lightening strikes, electrical failure, 
etc., in such a small area is beyond any statistical probability you can 
calculate," Turner said. "So I am convinced that there is a connection 
between [these incidents] somewhere, whether it has been found or not." 
 
     Nearly all of the fires have occurred at nonaffiliated black Baptist 
chapels located in rural and impoverished communities. But among the recent 
fires was the one Jan. 8 in Knoxville, Tenn., at the nondenominational 
Inner City Church, where former professional football star Reggie White is 
an associate pastor. 
 
     Turner said that while many of the burned-out congregations are in the 
process of rebuilding, with the assistance of concerned individuals and 
groups locally and nationally, it is important to place the problem in the 
larger national context. During the late '50s and '60s, the burning of 
black churches was part of a broad-based frontal assualt on the civil 
rights movement. In addition to burning churches, the attacks included 
murder, police brutality, cross burnings and many other forms of 
intimidation. 
 
     "The current rash of black church burnings, bombings and vandalism 
must be seen in the context of the white supremacy movement and growing 
[racial] intolerance in America," Turner said.  "Organized white supremacy 
groups operate in all 50 states and they harbor a deep and irrational 
antithesis for people of color, lesbians, gays, Jews and members of 
non-Christian religious faith groups." 
 
     Even so, Turner said, churches can play a significant role in creating 
a more tolerant climate.  While doing so presents an enormous challenge, he 
said, it is one the church cannot refuse to accept. 
 
     "Churches are supposed to be the torchbearers of the moral high 
ground," Turner said. "But the silence of the church is part of the fertile 
soil that nurtures intolerance. If you are not part of the solution, you 
are part of the problem. In the face of injustice, neutrality has no 
place." 
      
(Information for this story was also compiled by the Associated Press.) 

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