NEWS STORY: White House, Senate seek stiffer measures on church fires

c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS)-The White House and Senate proposed new measures today (June 19) aimed at halting a rash of arsons that already have destroyed more than 30 black churches in the South. The moves come on the heels of a vote Tuesday (June 18) in the House of Representatives to stiffen […]

c. 1996 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)-The White House and Senate proposed new measures today (June 19) aimed at halting a rash of arsons that already have destroyed more than 30 black churches in the South.

The moves come on the heels of a vote Tuesday (June 18) in the House of Representatives to stiffen penalties for those convicted of church arsons.


At the conclusion of a White House summit between President Clinton and seven Southern governors, Vice President Al Gore announced a”national prevention initiative”that would combine government and private resources to provide churches with surveillance and security help, watch groups and other efforts, Gore said.

Almost simultaneously, Sens. Lauch Faircloth, R-N.C., and Edward Kennedy, D- Mass., introduced legislation to expand federal jurisdiction to prosecute church arsonists and authorize funding for additional agents to investigate and prevent church fires.

The actions come at a time when politicians and religious groups are voicing outrage at the fires, which have especially plagued African-American churches in the South in the last 18 months.

Asked if he believes racism is to blame for the fires, Gore said,”For a very large number of them, what you will find ultimately, I predict, is that a common thread of underlying racism is present.” Gore said perpetrators of the fires”will not win.””The houses of worship will be rebuilt, and in each case the community will become stronger in the process,”he said.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, speaking to reporters on a conference call Wednesday (June 19), likened the fires to a”kind of white riot.” Jackson said the government’s inability to link the fires to a single group indicates that the arsons reflect broad racism in American society.”It’s bigger than an organizational conspiracy,”he said.”It’s perhaps a cultural conspiracy.” Assistant Attorney General Deval Patrick said he told the governors meeting at the White House that there have been 216 cases of fires and desecrations of houses of worship that federal authorities have investigated in the last six years. He said about one-third of those have been solved, but there has been a”dramatic increase”in incidents in the last 18 months. Half of the 216 cases occurred during that 18-month period, with 70 percent at African-American churches in the South.

Governors who met with the president praised the gathering as a display of unity across party lines.

Gov. Paul Patton, D-Ky., said he hoped the summit would be a turning point in the effort to stop the fires.”This is a symptom of a larger problem of intolerance,”he said of the fires.”Hopefully, the net effect will be a more humane, tolerant society.” Patton said that political posturing was replaced with prayer at the summit.”The president ended the meeting with prayer,”Patton said.”It was a very unifying experience and I think will be unifying for the whole country.” The House Tuesday (June 18) passed legislation aimed at broadening federal authority to prosecute crimes against religious property, including making it a federal crime to damage such property because of its”racial or ethnic character.” President Clinton has requested that Congress provide an extra $12 million for investigations.


The Congressional Black Caucus plans to host a day-long hearing on the burnings Thursday (June 20).

Meanwhile, other organizations and leaders continued to speak out against the fires.

At a news conference in New York Wednesday, representatives of the American Jewish Committee, the National Council of Churches and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops again expressed their outrage at the fires and urged that communities of faith join together to help rebuild the burned churches and restore various programs offered by those congregations.

The organizations sponsored an advertisement in Wednesday’s New York Times declaring that”the burning of a house of worship is an assault on the soul and spirit of the entire human family.” Eight foundations are scheduled to announce major grants to the National Council of Churches’ Burned Churches Fund on Thursday (June 20).

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