In the spring and early summer of 1996, newspapers, magazines, and television newscasts featured pictures of burning churches along with headlines such as “Burning Hate” and “Terror in the Night Down South.” The stories told of an increasing number of arsons at churches, especially black churches, in the South. Each time another church burned, the number of stories in the media about church arsons increased exponentially, with many authors theorizing that a conspiracy by white racists was responsible for the fires. Chief among the proponents of this theory was the Center for Democratic Renewal, a hate crimes watch group that was monitoring the fires. The CDR announced at a March 1996 press conference that ninety black churches had been burned in nine southern states since 1990 and that more were being burned every year. By mid-summer 1996, however, a few voices began...