Church Burnings Have Never Stopped

Last month I made quick reference to a spate of church burnings in Alabama, a story that was not--and still is not--getting much coverage. (Interestingly, a Google news search turns up a link to an editorial in the Tehran Times, which has apparently been removed from the site. One in the Tehran Times is one more than in major US newspapers.) Alice Smith (hat tip: Persecution Blog via Adam's Blog) points out that church burnings, which we tend to associate with the past, have never really stopped.

Arson burnings of churches had slipped from the nation's conscience until fires this month in Alabama brought them to the forefront again, but the fact of the matter is church burnings never stopped over the past 15 years.

...

From 1990 to 2000, some 1,507 churches burned and were labeled either arson, attempted arson, suspicious or undetermined, Johnson-Mackey said. From 2000 to 2006, the coalition documented a "minimum" number of 600 church burnings.

It's so common, a National Coalition for Burned Churches has been formed, which helps to rebuild burned out churches. As the Daily Dispatch says, "It's appalling that such an organization need exist, but obviously there's a demand for its services."

Adam's Blog has a breakdown of church burnings from 1999 to 2001. Because of history, we might expect most burnings to target black churches, but the majority are in white churches.