c. 1997 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ A year of joint efforts by the U.S. Departments of Treasury and Justice has helped lead to the arrests of almost 200 suspects in the spate of fires over the past few years that destroyed or damaged houses of worship across the country.

Officials also said they detected no broad pattern of conspiracy in the fires.

On the first anniversary of the creation of the National Church Arson Task Force, its co-chair said Sunday (June 8) that 199 suspects have been arrested in connection with 150 of the task force’s 429 investigations of arsons, bombings or attempted bombings of houses of worship between January 1, 1995 and May 27 of this year.

The 35 percent arrest rate is double the 16 percent rate of arrest for arsons in general and slightly higher than the arrest rate the task force reported in January.”Arsons are extremely difficult to solve,”James E. Johnson, assistant secretary for enforcement of the U.S. Treasury Department told a news conference at the department’s headquarters.”Evidence burns. It’s destroyed. So it is remarkable that we have achieved these results.” A total of 110 defendants have been convicted in federal and state courts in connection with fires at 77 houses of worship since January 1995.

Johnson attributed the results to increased coordination of agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the FBI and of local and state enforcement officials.”While we have made significant progress, the work of the task force is far from over,”he said.

The task force’s June report, released at the news conference, indicates that 17 new arson investigations were launched in March, 21 in April and 12 in May.

Task force officials continue to conclude there may have been some small, regional conspiracies to set some fires rather than any broad-based conspiracy.”Many of the fires were committed, we believe, by individuals acting alone,”Johnson said.”We have not seen hard evidence that would support the theory that there is a nationwide conspiracy behind these fires.” Johnson did say there has been”a higher incidence”of fires at African-American churches, which he said have been attacked disproportionately more than other houses of worship. Fourteen of the 25 defendants convicted of federal offenses have been convicted of civil rights violations in cases where there was evidence of racial motivation.

Of the houses of worship in the South that have been arson victims, 50 percent have been African-American and 50 percent have been congregations of other racial/ethnic make-up.

Most of the defendants in the overall number of cases have not been members of hate groups.”One needn’t be a member of the (Ku Klux) Klan to commit a hate crime,”said Johnson.

But while some fires have been found to be racially motivated, other motives for the fires include financial profit, vandalism and revenge.

Some of the perpetrators were motivated to burn churches when they learned that others were committing similar acts, Johnson said.”They saw it on the news and this became for some of them a thing to do,”he said.

Of the 429 houses of worship that have been investigated, about four were mosques and 11 were synagogues, Johnson said.

African-American churches _ more than three-quarters of them in the South _ represent 162 of the cases being investigated by the task force.

The task force’s June report notes that 25 houses of worship have been rebuilt as a result of joint efforts of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the National Council of Churches (NCC), the Congress of National Black Churches, Habitat for Humanity and other groups. The report said that 65 congregations are under construction.

But NCC spokeswoman Carol Fouke estimated Sunday that about 40 of the 90 churches that have been assisted by the council and other groups have been completely rebuilt or have purchased new buildings. About 45 are either under construction or planning to break ground this spring or summer, she said.

The church arson task force’s report was issued on the day the council began a three-day conference that marks its transition from the first to the second phase of its response to the rash of church burnings. The second phase will continue to include rebuilding efforts, but also will include initiatives to promote racial justice and reconciliation.

More than three quarters of the arrests in the arson cases were made after the task force was formed. Since its formation, more than $12 million of the $26 million budgeted for its efforts has been spent, Johnson said.

The 199 persons who have been arrested include 160 whites, 34 African-Americans and 5 Hispanics. Eight-three juveniles were among the total arrested.”These arsons destroyed rural wooden churches, ruined 100-year-old Bibles, and caused tens of millions of dollars in damage,”the report concluded.”But those communities which suffered a burned house of worship came to realize that thousands of Americans really care. The arsonists may have sought to divide our communities by burning our houses of worship, but in the end they only helped bring them closer together.”

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