wfn.org | Presbyterians Continue to Aid Burned Black Churches Despite

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Controversy 22-August-1996 
 
 
96302          Presbyterians Continue to Aid Burned 
                Black Churches Despite Controversy 
 
                         by Julian Shipp 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--Presbyterians continue to aid burned African-American 
churches nationwide despite recent controversy surrounding the National 
Council of Churches (NCC) "Burned Churches Fund." 
 
     According to Stan E. Hankins, associate for disaster response U.S.A. 
in the Worldwide Ministries Division, Presbyterians are expected to have 
contributed by the end of summer more than $232,000 to an account 
(#9-2000-126) set up by Presbyterian World Service for donations to help 
rebuild the churches. 
 
     More than $23,500 has been received for an account (#9-2000-127) set 
up to assist Matthews-Murkland Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, N.C., 
which was burned on the night of June 6. Thousands of dollars in additional 
contributions have also gone directly to Charlotte Presbytery and Sheppards 
and Lapsley Presbytery in Alabama. 
 
     Hankins said Presbyterian World Service has sent $7,500 to Sheppards 
and Lapsley Presbytery to help ecumenical rebuilding efforts in Alabama and 
$30,000 to the NCC's "Burned Churches Fund." This fund has already received 
approximately $9 million in cash, pledges and building materials from 
churches, foundations, businesses and individuals. 
 
     According to an NCC news release, the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, NCC 
general secretary, said 85 percent of this money will be used for 
rebuilding churches and the remaining 15 percent will be used for 
"administration and programs addressing racism."  
 
     "The NCC has said consistently from day one that we were committed to 
addressing two dimensions in these tragic events -- rebuilding for ongoing 
ministries and challenging the racism that fuels the acts of hatred," 
Campbell said.  
 
     But the NCC has been accused by the Washington-based Institute for 
Religion and Democracy (IRD) of perpetuating a "great church-fire hoax," 
according to IRD president Diane Knippers. In an Aug.  10 press release, 
Knippers claimed the 46-year-old ecumenical council had created the church 
arson story "absent evidence that black churches burn more frequently than 
white churches to raise money for its leftist political agenda." 
 
     Knippers also claims the NCC "exaggerated the church-burning 
phenomenon to promote a radical agenda" and that its officials "jawboned 
the church-burning issue into a national crisis." 
 
     Knippers said studies by three major United States media outlets show 
that arson at black churches is a fraction of the 600 churches that are 
torched every year. She said church arson has declined "dramatically" from 
a figure of more than 1,400 in 1980. 
 
     According to Campbell, "there is no hoax." She said arson and 
vandalism at African-American and multiracial churches has "increased 
dramatically and persistently over the past 18 to 30 months." Campbell 
called the increase "all the more startling" because church burnings 
overall had declined in recent years. 
 
     Campbell noted that in the past 18 months the rate of white church 
arsons has not increased. By comparison, "the rate of black church arsons 
is more than double what it has been in previous years." She asserted that 
more than 60 African-American and multiracial churches were burned between 
Jan.  1, 1995, and June 30, 1996. "That is more than in the previous five 
years combined," Campbell said. 
 
     Campbell said that while approximately the same number of black and 
white churches have been burned since 1995, black churches are burning in 
proportion to their number at four times the rate of white churches. She 
estimated there are 63,000 African-American churches in the United States, 
compared to approximately 235,000 white churches. 
 
          A novel approach to help victimized churches  
 
     Meanwhile, at least one Presbyterian congregation has developed a 
novel approach to aid victimized churches. Following the suggestion of a 
church member in June, the congregation of Westminster Presbyterian Church 
of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, conducted a "swift" inquiry of the church fires, 
particularly those in the South. 
 
     According to the Rev. Herbert L. Isenberg, church pastor, the session 
obtained a vast amount of  information off the Internet and realized that 
"everything being said about the church burnings was not factual" and that 
the issue had become political with candidates "making hay" while they had 
the opportunity. 
 
     However, Isenberg said, the congregation also realized that responding 
to the burnings presented a unique opportunity to make a statement about 
racial injustice and demonstrate solidarity with African-American churches. 
So the congregation developed a program called "Adopt a Burned Church" 
(ABC).  
 
     Isenberg said his 850-member congregation adopted Matthews-Murkland 
Presbyterian Church in June and has collected more than $1,400 in freewill 
offerings. He said the congregation decided not to solicit funds from other 
congregations, but rather encouraged them to start their own ABC program. 
Isenberg said that following local media coverage two non-Presbyterian 
churches have adopted the program in his area. 
 
     "There's a lot of confusion on this issue as far as I can tell," 
Isenberg told the Presbyterian News Service. "But regardless, we have 
brothers and sisters who have been put out, and if our church was burned, 
we'd certainly appreciate someone in North Carolina sending us a little 
money to help rebuild.  It's a way for us, regardless of what politicians 
and the media are doing, to reach out, understand someone's plight and 
respond to it in some way." 

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