| | | "many on the left think such terrorism is justified"
Many on the right think it's better to be doers than thinkers, but we can't mention that on a family-oriented thread, cuz of double standards..
History[ edit]
Within the Hate Crime Statistics Act, blacks are one of the groups that are the targets of the most hate crimes of any type, one of which is arson to their places of worship. An African-American scholar and historian, C. Eric Lincoln, wrote in his book, Coming Through the Fire: Surviving Race and Place in America, that the first recorded church arson to a black church happened in 1822 in South Carolina. These kinds of arsons also occurred in Cincinnati in 1829 and through the 1830s in Philadelphia by white mobs. In the 1950s and 1960s, as civil rights activism and the desegregation of public places such as schools and restaurants were starting to increase, so was the burning and bombing of black churches. A more notorious bombing during that time happened to the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, where four young girls were killed. [28] Church arson continued to be a problem in the southern United States in the early 1990s for African American churches. The culprits were generally young, white males with racism as their driving force, and were often under the influence of drugs and alcohol. [1] Although arson began happening at white churches in January 1995[ citation needed], it was still mostly directed towards black churches. [28] The motive for these church burnings began crossing from racial hatred to other motives such as revenge, vandalism, and the influence of media. For example, a gang of Georgia teenagers who were high school dropouts, robbed, vandalized, and burned 90 churches that were both black and white. When interrogated, they told the police that if they couldn’t get money, they vandalized or burned the place as a result of this. [1]
Church Arson Prevention Act[ edit]The S. 1980 (104th): Church Arson Prevention Act of 1996 was introduced to Congress on June 19, 1996, but died because the Senate Committee found some places for improvement of the bill. It was sponsored by congressman Duncan Faircloth. [29] On May 23, 1996, the House of Representatives introduced H.R. 3525 (104th): Church Arson Prevention Act. The Act was passed by both houses in Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton on July 3, 1996. This bill became law number Pub.L. 104-155. It was sponsored by Republican Henry Hyde. [30] The bill was summarized by the Congressional Research Service as follows: “[the Church Arson Prevention Act of 1996] makes Federal criminal code prohibitions against, and penalties for, damaging religious property or obstructing any person’s free exercise of religious beliefs applicable where the offense is in or affects, interstate commerce.” [30] One of the changes in the bill was the sentence increase for “defacing or destroying any religious real property because of race, color, or ethnic characteristics…” from 10 to 20 years. It also changed the statute of limitations from five years to seven years after the date the crime was committed. It reauthorizes the Hate Crimes Statistics Act. [31]
National Church Arson Task Force[ edit]President Clinton created the National Church Arson Task Force (NCATF) to look for any connections among the church arsons and help take off some loads of overburdened state and local police forces. [32] According to a first-year report to the president in June 1997, they opened investigation to 429 cases of arson, bombings, or attempted bombings of churches since January 1, 1995. [33] In a second-year report in October 1998 to the president, they opened 241 more cases that happened between January 1, 1995, and September 8, 1998, making a total of 670 opened investigations. [2] In a third-year report in January 2000 to the president, NCATF opened an investigation to another 157 cases making it a total of 827. [34] They helped to solve many of these arson and bombing cases. The Task Force is now disbanded, but the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) continues to investigate church burnings that occur. The number of church arsons decreased drastically (82 percent) from 1,320 in 1980 to 240 in 2002 according to the National Fire Protection Association. [35]
A 2013 National Fire Protection Association report found that 16% of fires at religious buildings were intentionally lit. [36] [37]
2015[ edit]After the Charleston church shooting in June 2015, a number of suspected church arson attacks were documented. [38] [39] [40] [41] [42]
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