Christian Coalition Offers Blacks Repentance, Funds

In a professed spirit of “repentance” for the past sins of white Southern Christianity, Christian Coalition Executive Director Ralph Reed called Tuesday for a day of national racial reconciliation and pledged that his organization would raise at least $1 million to help rebuild African American churches that have been burned.

The announcement came in the midst of an outpouring of assistance from religious organizations around the country that are helping rebuild the almost 40 black churches that have been destroyed or damaged by fire in the South in the last 18 months.

During a meeting Tuesday with about a dozen black ministers and representatives of groups such as the NAACP and the Anti-Defamation League, Reed called the arsons “the greatest outbreak of violence against the black church since the height of the civil rights movement.”

He said the racial motivation behind them is “obvious.” His organization, he said, is getting involved “to make it clear that whites will stand shoulder to shoulder with their black brothers and sisters . . . to see that this bigotry will not prevail.”

Reed’s overture was warmly received by most of the pastors. His speech brought tears to the eyes of at least one minister, the Rev. Brenda Stevenson of Charlotte, N.C., whose New Outreach Christian Center was burned in February 1995. She proclaimed his comments “a message of love” and, to a chorus of amens, said: “I’ve got a feeling everything’s going to be all right.”

But the involvement of the Christian Coalition, perhaps the most powerful political force on the religious right, was greeted with skepticism by others. “The root of the problem is racism, not the burning of churches,” said the Rev. Joseph Lowery, director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Nelson Rivers, southeast regional director of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, said African Americans need to be wary of “Trojan horses.” “We have to really look at this horse, get inside and see what’s in it,” he said.

At the meeting Tuesday, Rivers asked Reed how far the Christian Coalition is willing to go in a spirit of reconciliation to combat racism. “Is there a limit?”

“There is no limit,” Reed responded. “I’m willing to do whatever the holy spirit and the will of God wants me to do.”

In a moving and eloquent speech in a small meeting room at an Atlanta hotel, Reed promised to throw the full weight of his organization behind stopping the arsons and assisting grieving congregations.

In his comments, he referred to the campaign to obtain voting rights and to end segregation in the 1950s and 1960s. “It is a painful truth that the white evangelical church was not only on the sidelines but in many cases on the wrong side of the most central struggle for social justice in this century. We come today bearing the burden of that past, with broken hearts, a repentant spirit and ready hands to fight this senseless violence.”

He made it clear in the meeting that the coalition’s involvement would go beyond contributing money for rebuilding. Saying he wanted to develop an ongoing relationship, he asked for suggestions on how the organization might assist.

When several pastors said insurance companies had canceled their policies after the churches were set on fire, he said the coalition could help put pressure on companies and perhaps lobby for laws to keep it from happening in the future.

Reed also said the organization would set up a special fund to provide alarms, motion detectors, outdoor floodlights and smoke detectors to the churches that are rebuilt.

July 14 would be “Racial Reconciliation Sunday” at the 100,000 churches on the coalition’s mailing list, Reed said. He would ask each of them to take up a special collection to help rebuild the burned churches.

Lowery, who did not attend the meeting, said the affected black congregations would appreciate any help offered, but he noted that only $10 from each church is needed for the Christian Coalition to reach its goal. “That’s pretty generous,” he quipped.

“Reconciliation is much stronger than charity,” he said. “Charity can be motivated by pity, but love embraces justice.”

Lowery complained that Reed only called him Monday night to issue an invitation to the meeting, and he charged that the conservative leader had no intention of being inclusive.

Rivers, in an interview, said that he wanted to see greater evidence of Reed’s sincerity. Saying he was concerned about the “intolerance” reflected in Reed’s past comments concerning affirmative action, gays in the military and abortion, he said he is nevertheless willing to work with the Christian Coalition to bring about change.

Reed, who said he hoped to meet soon with Lowery, dismissed his criticisms. “This issue transcends our political differences.”

Although the ministers in attendance represented less than half of the churches that have been burned, Mike Russell, a spokesman for the Christian Coalition, said the skeptical comments made by Lowery and several other black leaders “are the exception, not the rule.”

Other religious organizations contributing to the rebuilding effort include the National Council of Churches, which said that it has raised more than $2 million in donations and will announce Thursday that it is well on its way to meeting its $4-million goal.

The American Jewish Committee and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops plan to announce today that they are joining the National Council of Churches in co-sponsoring the Burned Churches Fund, which will concentrate its efforts on rebuilding black churches but also will assist multiracial congregations or other faiths whose buildings have been torched.

Meanwhile, the National Black Evangelical Assn. and the National Assn. of Evangelicals, whose members include 52 Protestant denominations and thousands of independent churches, have also established a rebuilding fund. The 15.6-million member Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, said it has so far raised $282,000 among delegates to its annual convention, which ended last week in New Orleans. At the convention, Southern Baptists were encouraged to send rebuilding funds through their state conventions.

There also have been reports that almost two dozen white churches have burned during the same time.

Federal officials pointed Tuesday to the discovery of an “incendiary device” at the all-white Kossuth Church of Christ in Kossuth, Miss., located less than five miles from each of the two black churches that burned Monday night.

Rivers, the NAACP official, said that statistically there are many more white churches in America than black ones and said the concentration of black church burnings indicates that African American places of worship are being targeted.

Times staff writer Larry Stammer contributed to this story.

* CHURCH ARSON BILL: House votes to aid prosecution of racially motivated fires. A12

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Religious Groups Begin Funds to Rebuild Torched Churches

Several religious groups have established funds for rebuilding churches that have been burned in the South.

* The Burned Church Fund, c/o National Council of Churches, Room 880, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, N.Y. 10115. Checks should be made out to the council and earmarked “Burned Church Fund.” This fund is co-sponsored by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and the American Jewish Committee. Donations may also be charged to credit cards by calling (800) 762-0968.

* World Relief, Rebuild the Churches, Dept. 9, P.O. Box WRC, Wheaton, Ill. 60189. This fund is jointly backed by the National Black Evangelical Assn. and the National Assn. of Evangelicals. World Relief is the international assistance arm of the National Assn. of Evangelicals. The phone number is (800) 535-LIFE.

* Southern Baptist Convention Arson Fund. 901 Commerce St., Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Telephone (615) 244-2355.