Black church group to aid burned churches

Christian Century, Feb 5, 1997

The Congress of National Black Churches announced a $12 million initiative January 27 to address the rash of recent church fires by aiding in the churches' rebuilding and by creating programs to foster multiracial and ecumenical harmony. Under the plan, called the Church Rebuilding and Arson Prevention Initiative, the CNBC intends to help rebuild 50 churches over the next three years.

But officials of the CNBC, made up of eight predominantly African-American denominations, stressed that it is important to develop a comprehensive plan to address the causes as well as the results of the fires, many of which have occurred at churches of its member denominations. Bishop John Hurst Adams, CNBC's founder and chairman emeritus, speaking at a news conference at which the initiative was unveiled, said, "We hope that we can begin the new millennium without this issue being a threat to either persons or property in the future."

Over the next three years, the ecumenical and racially inclusive program will be implemented in 13 mostly southern states. Initial pilot programs are planned in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. Other states the CNBC plans to reach are Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina and Virginia. The $12 million initiative will be funded in part by a $6 million grant from the Lilly Endowment, an Indianapolis-based foundation that is one of the nation's largest funders of religion research and scholarship. The rest of the money will be raised by the CNBC, which is working with a variety of private and governmental partners on the effort. Among the partners are black police and firefighter organizations and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The CNBC's effort will also focus on preventing church arsons by educating churches on effective security systems and the use of fire retardant materials. Since juveniles have been charged in a significant percentage of the church fires, the Congress in addition will seek to start creative projects for young people.

The National Church Arson Task Force, a cooperative effort of the U.S. Departments of Treasury and Justice, recently reported it has investigated 328 arsons, bombings or attempted bombings that occurred at houses of worship between January 1, 1995, and January 7, 1997. It found that 43 percent of those arrested in arson-related cases in the past two years have been juveniles between the ages of seven and 17. At least 138 of the 328 investigations have been at African-American churches, with the majority of those in southern states. The report indicates that authorities have had a fair measure of success in arresting and charging suspects in the cases.

"The report shows that we have been remarkably successful in solving the crimes," President Clinton said in announcing the results of the National Church Arson Task Force's first report during his weekly radio address January 18. "Since January 1995, 143 suspects have been arrested in connection with 107 fires at churches and other houses of worship," Clinton said. "This rate of arrest is double the general arrest rate for arsons--and three-quarters of these arrests occurred during the seven months following the formation of the task force." Forty-eight defendants have been convicted in connection with 43 fires since January 1, 1995, the report said.

The eight denominations belonging to the CNBC, which was founded in 1978, represent 65,000 churches and about 20 million members. The member denominations are the African Methodist Episcopal Church; the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church; the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church; the Church of God in Christ; the National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.; the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc.; the National Missionary Baptist Convention of America; and the Progressive National Baptist Convention.