Following what appeared to be a wave of arsons directed against black churches, the National Council of Churches asked the United Nations to monitor racism in America. However, the Justice Department and various journalists concluded that burnings of black churches comprise a relatively small part of church arson in America, which is on the decline; that a brief increase in the number of reported black church arsons over the previous two years was due to more efficient reporting and statistics kept on the crimes; that many of the "arsons" turned out to be accidental fires; that many of the congregations labeled "black" were mixed-race and sometimes overwhelmingly white; that about one third of the arsonists involved were black; and that arsonists' motives were often unclear—sometimes including concealment of theft and insurance fraud. Investigators also noted a large number of copycat crimes stemming from close media attention paid to the story.

[Ed.: As a result of publicity surrounding the church arson story, the NCC received donations of $9 million. While some of that money will go towards rebuilding churches, over a third will go towards "advocacy" projects to reduce racism. Conservative evangelicals joined the leftist NCC in its crusade.]

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