AS I RECENTLY recalled that summer of 1964, I was reminded that slavery was our original sin. Race remains our unresolved dilemma, and today the bombers are back. From an urban church in Knoxville, Tenn., to countless rural churches in South Carolina, Virginia, ... and Alabama, the flames of arson and the hatreds of racism burn again.
On the narrow subject of burning churches, there has been rare bipartisan outrage. Conservative Rep. Sen. Lauch Faircloth of North Carolina said on the Senate floor, “If we in Congress cannot agree that church burning is a despicable crime, what can we agree on? It’s not a matter of liberals, conservatives, blacks, whites; it is about justice, faith, right, wrong.” He and Sen. Ted Kennedy introduced a bill to toughen the laws against church arson.
Well-meaning whites have also stepped forward to help rebuild churches. The National Council of Churches and the Anti-Defamation League have established national rebuilding funds. Habitat for Humanity is coordinating the labor of volunteers who want to rebuild. Teams of Mennonites and Quakers are rebuilding churches in Alabama. ...
Beyond deploring, rebuilding, toughening laws ... what can you do? You can look deeper into the soul of America. You can be aware of the context in which these acts are taking place and ponder whether you see your own reflection in the pool of indifference that has surrounded racial healing for much of the last 15 years in America.
This is an excerpt of an article that ran in the Sept/Oct 1996 issue of Sojourners; you can read the full story in our archives.
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