c. 1997 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ As the National Council of Churches (NCC) turns the focus of its Burned Churches Project to racial justice _ while continuing to help mostly black churches rebuild _ a three-day meeting this week of NCC officials, pastors of burned churches and others demonstrated how far some congregations have come and how far many still have to go.

While some pastors of burned churches from across the nation who gathered here Sunday through Tuesday (June 8-10) could celebrate the new buildings in which their congregations now worship, others continue to face the challenges of overcoming the flames and complain of harassment from authorities and difficulties getting bank loans to rebuild.

Some of the pastors issued a statement condemning the report of the federal government’s National Church Arson Task Force issued the day the NCC meeting began. They said its conclusion _ that there is no national conspiracy in the church burnings _ tells white supremacists”that it is okay to burn down black and multiracial churches.” After a meeting Tuesday (June 10) of NCC officials, pastors and members of the Clinton Cabinet, Attorney General Janet Reno responded to that concern.”It is very important that we pursue every shred of evidence and that we pursue it to its conclusion,”Reno said.”We shouldn’t expect to shape the conclusion by what we think might be found. We’ve got to shape it … based on the evidence and the law and to date the evidence has not demonstrated any national conspiracy.” NCC General Secretary Joan Brown Campbell, who had not read the pastors’ statement, said she understood some of the pastors concerns, but the council was still supportive of the task force’s report.”We’re not at odds with the report,”she said.”We want to make very certain that the report is not understood to be saying that … these fires were not driven by racial hostility. We know that in many cases they were. Not in all cases can that be proven.” According to the report, 199 suspects have been arrested in connection with 150 of 429 investigations of arsons at houses of worship since 1995. Racist motives were one of a variety of reasons for the fires, the report stated.

The NCC officials have focused on helping 90 churches they believe were burned in fires prompted by racist motives.

Campbell said later that there is an ongoing clash between pastors and authorities, who work from different perspectives.”You have this tension between what the community knows to be true and what can be proven in a court of law,”she said.

The Rev. Ted Myers of South Richland Bible Way Church in Gadsden, S.C., agreed.”People can tell you why a church burned, but the perception of a community will really give you a full understanding of what’s happening,”he said.”We know arsonists are not always going to leave calling cards. Hate groups don’t do that. They’re cowards for the most part. Fools leave notes. Cowards don’t.” At the meeting with Reno, Vice President Gore commended the work of the task force _ a joint effort of the U.S. Departments of Treasury and Justice _ and the volunteers in the rebuilding process.”This multicolored, multicultural majority called the United States of America will indeed prevail over a tiny and cowardly minority that expresses hate with heat and flame,”he said.

The meeting with officials capped three days of discussions about how pastors of burned churches can help rebuild the sense of community in their areas and address racial justice.

The previous day, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, discussed how his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition could help pastors become involved in public advocacy.

Campbell hopes the next phase of the burned churches campaign will allow her organization, with its 33 Protestant and Orthodox member denominations, to join non-NCC members in a”National Religious Partnership for Racial Justice.” This week’s meeting also featured a banquet honoring corporations, denominations and governmental bodies that contributed to the rebuilding effort _ which has included Roman Catholic and Jewish groups as well as the Congress of National Black Churches and Habitat for Humanity.

The NCC also recognized the joint efforts of the National Association of Evangelicals and National Black Evangelical Association, which worked separately from the NCC to help burned churches. When NAE President Don Argue spoke briefly from the platform, it marked a historic moment when two theologically divided groups _ NCC and NAE _ shared a similar commitment.

The NCC raised $7.5 million in cash and received other in-kind donations from religious and non-religious sources that was used mostly to help rebuild 90 churches in the first phase. About 40 of those churches have been completed and about 45 should be under construction by September, NCC spokeswoman Carol Fouke said.

As the meeting was drawing to a close, Andrew Cuomo, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the first four churches to be chosen as recipients of federal loan guarantees for the reconstruction of their burned buildings.

The $668,000 in loan guarantees will be received by four predominantly African-American churches: Second New Light Church in Bridgeport, Conn. ($413,000); Greater Mount Zion Tabernacle in Portsmouth, Va. ($180,000); Emmanuel Church in Decatur, Ala. ($65,000); and the New Birth Temple Church in Shreveport, La. ($10,000).

A $10 million-loan guarantee fund _ approved under the Church Arson Prevention Act _ allows the federal government to give 100 percent backing of loans for rebuilding churches that have been declared arson victims.

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Some pastors have complained that some banks have been unreceptive to their requests for rebuilding loans.

As a result, Campbell said Tuesday that NCC officials may work with black denominational leaders to meet with officers of large banks to address the problem.

Some pastors also believe they are being treated as if they were suspects and not victims of the fires at their churches.

Campbell said such complaints have decreased significantly in the past year, but some concerns remain.

Justice Department spokesman Myron Marlin said federal agents have worked to improve sensitivity in their investigative work.”We have worked extremely hard in the course of the last year to reach out to the churches and understand their concerns,”he said.

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