216 Church Attacks Investigated Since ’90

Federal investigators have probed the burning or vandalization of more than 200 places of worship since 1990, according to figures released Wednesday by the Justice Department.

The attacks were carried out in 35 states, from California to Maine, and include desecrations of black, white and Asian churches, synagogues and mosques.

The Justice Department has launched a massive investigation into the burnings of black churches in the South. The figures show that, while the frequency of black church arsons has risen starkly in the last 18 months, there are no racial or geographic boundaries to the phenomenon.

The list was released after a summit of Southern governors, hosted by President Clinton, at which the rash of black church burnings was discussed. After the meeting, Clinton said there is no evidence of a regionwide conspiracy to destroy African American places of worship.

“I do not believe, based on the evidence I have seen, that it is a conspiracy,” Clinton said, echoing the views of federal investigators. “On the other hand, I do believe a lot of these incidents are racially motivated, and they tend to play off one another.”

Eighty-three of the 216 buildings included on the list are designated as African American places of worship, and six are counted as racially mixed. The report listed six mosques and 12 synagogues.

The list of black structures may be higher. Some of the churches that were defaced with racial slurs, including one belonging to the overwhelmingly black Church of God in Christ denomination, are not designated as African American. In addition, while many American followers of Islam are black, none of the vandalized mosques on the list is designated as black.

Despite the larger number of attacks on nonblack places of worship, independent monitors of racial and ethnic hate crimes say that should not distract from what they see as the clear targeting of black churches for racial reasons.

“Statistically, there are far more white churches than black churches,” said Brian Levin, a professor of criminal justice at Stockton College in Pomono, N.J. Until recently, he was associate director of Klanwatch, the arm of the Southern Poverty Law Center that monitors hate groups.

While the high number of white churches that have burned suggests “there might be a level of anti-religiosity” in the arsons, Levin charged that the talk of white church burnings is “a veiled attempt by people to downplay the problem of racism.”

He also was critical of law enforcement for its handling of the burnings, particularly in the South.

A number of Southern states, where high concentrations of these crimes occur, do not have hate crime laws, he said. And where the laws are on the books, they often are not enforced, he said.

“I think it’s criminal that the governors of Georgia and South Carolina can show up at the White House with a straight face and say they are doing everything they can when they don’t even have a hate crime statute on the books in their states,” Levin said.

“It’s abysmal,” he said. “The South is the most inadequate region of the country, as far as dealing with hate crimes.”

Even as the governors of Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and West Virginia and the lieutenant governor of Florida met with Clinton and top administration officials to discuss the burnings, the number of fires continued to climb Wednesday.

St. James United Methodist Church in Berlin, Md., burned early Wednesday. Officials determined that the cause was faulty wiring. Some members disputed the finding.

In addition, two black North Carolina men were arrested Wednesday and charged with arson in the burning last month of a black church, and a white teenage firefighting volunteer has confessed to another church burning in the state, officials said.

Officials said they did not know whether the arrests marked the first time blacks have been charged in the wave of nearly 40 black church burnings that have occurred in the South since January 1995.

The two North Carolina men charged with setting the fire at Mount Tarbor Baptist Church in Cerro Gordo--Rodney Bullock of Fair Bluff and Curtis Gilbert of Winnabow--were being held in a Columbus County jail, said Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms division spokesman Earl Woodham.

The church building in Cerro Gordo, set afire May 23, was attached to the church and used as a school.

Woodham said law officers know why the men burned the church, but they were not disclosing that reason. The men are adults, he said, but he did not know their ages. “They face a maximum state incarceration of up to 59 months imprisonment if convicted of this crime.”

Officials in neighboring Robeson County said Wednesday that a volunteer firefighter arrested Tuesday had confessed to torching Pleasant Hill Baptist Church.

They said Billy Baxley, 17, who lived near the church in Orrum, N.C., that has a mainly African American congregation, would be tried as an adult.

In the meeting with the governors, officials discussed efforts to prosecute those responsible for the fires, rebuild churches and prevent new fires.

The list of attacks on places of worship that the Justice Department released is not necessarily comprehensive, as it includes only those in which federal investigators became involved.

Florida and Tennessee tied for the most attacks, with 23 each. Next came Texas, with 18. Three places of worship included on the list were in California.

In some cases where fires occurred, the cause was eventually found to be accidental.

Also, in some cases where it was a white church or synagogue that was vandalized, the attack appeared to be part of a hate campaign that also included blacks. For example, in one 1992 Illinois case, a white defendant who was convicted of vandalizing a synagogue also had bombed a roller rink frequented by African Americans. And in a case in Massachusetts, a group of skinheads who desecrated two synagogues were convicted on charges that also included harassing African Americans.

In a Kentucky case, a white church was burned by members of the Ku Klux Klan.

The Justice Department list in most cases does not offer specifics. But a review of court documents showed that a church in Bowling Green, Ky., was set afire by klan members because the pastor was a vocal critic of the klan.

“I think you have to look at the causes why the white churches are being burned,” said Nelson Rivers, southeast regional director of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People. He said it also is important to look at the relative severity of the attacks against black churches.

He noted that three churches were burned in one night in Barnwell County, S.C., in April--two white and one black. The black church was destroyed while the white ones had little damage.

While any church burning is a tragedy, Rivers said, he believes most of the arsons in the South, and most of the destruction, have been directed at black churches.

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday added its voice to the chorus of outrage over the wave of black church burnings, with eight lawmakers introducing a motion to set up a donation fund at City Hall to help the congregations rebuild.

“In many of these communities, the church has been the focal point for all civic and community activities,” reads the motion, which will be considered by the 15-member council within a week. “As a result of these wanton and terrorist acts against our most sacred places, entire communities have been devastated. This extends not only to the physical destruction of property but also to the growing seeds of mistrust among neighbors who had previously worked side by side together.”

Sponsored by Councilman Richard Alarcon, the motion was seconded by more than half the panel, including the three African American council members.

Times staff writer Jodi Wilgoren in Los Angeles contributed to this story.