nations whose combined membershipsrninclude 50 million people.rnThat campaign reached full throttlernon June 8-10, when the NCC, CDR, andrnCCR brought 40 pastors of burnedrnchurches to Washington to meet withrnPresident Clinton, Attorney GeneralrnJanet Reno, and Treasury SecretaryrnRobert Rubin. That visit promulgatedrnmost of the major national media interestrnin the church burnings. The Republican-rncontrolled House Judiciary Committee,rnchaired by Congressman HenryrnHyde, did host public hearings on therntopic on May 21 but generated only arnsmattering of newspaper articles.rnJoan Brown Campbell, general secretaryrnof the NCC, had little trouble gainingrnattention from the Clinton administration.rnDespite her group’s purportedrnnonpartisanship, she has been a strongrnClinton supporter and frequent WhiternHouse visitor. During the first of severalrnbudget confrontations with the RepublicanrnCongress last November, she led arnchurch delegation to the White Housernto bolster the President’s position.rn”It is clear that racial hostility is therndriving force behind a number of thesernincidents,” said President Clinton in hisrnJune 8 radio address, with Campbell atrnhis side in the Oval Office. “We mustrncome together, black and white alike, tornsmother the fires of hatred that fuel thisrnviolence.” After a June 19 meeting withrnSouthern governors to discuss the burnings.rnVice President Gore affirmed thatrn”I do feel on safe ground in saying thatrnLIBERAL ARTSrnFAIRNESS FOOLERYrnAccording to the Irish Voice last July,rnCSPAN has established a new “fairnessrndoctrine” in order to ensure thatrnPresident Clinton receives an equalrnnumber of friendly and hostile callsrnwhen he appears on talk shows. “Becausernthe anti-Clinton callers werernjamming the phone lines by a marginrnof 5-1,” CSPAN’s Brian Lamb reportedlyrnordered that the three phonernlines be realigned so that pro-Clintonrncallers could get equal air time.rnfor a large number of them (the arsons)rn. . . the conspiracy is racism itself.”rnDuring his June 10 joint appearancernon CBS This Morning with Assistant AttorneyrnGeneral for Civil Rights DevalrnPatrick, the Reverend Jones traced thernchurch fires to a “climate that is a part ofrnthis nation.” Patrick, who had earlierrncalled the burnings “an epidemic of terror,”rnagreed with Jones. “We are reapingrnwhat we have sown in this country.” Hernfaulted “talk radio” and “some of thernhearings… in the Congress.” Patrick affirmed,rn”We have race relations a t . . . anrnall time low.”rnCampbell’s June meetings with Clinton,rnReno, and Rubin to discuss thernchurch burnings were a major publicityrncoup for her ecumenical council. Oncernthe mouthpiece for America’s foremostrnreligious bodies, the National Council ofrnChurches comprises the nation’s fastestrndeclining liberal denominations. CongressmanrnHyde’s Judiciary Committeernhearings had even declined to invite therncouncil, which still insisted on providingrnwritten testimony.rnIn that written testimony, the NCCrncomplained of indifferent law enforcementrnofficials. “Without exception, thernvictims of these hate crimes said they feltrnintimidated by the very forces they hadrnhoped would provide them with protection,”rnlamented Campbell. A reportrncompiled jointly by the church councilrnand its two partners in May further bemoanedrnthat local police had refused tornaccept a “conspiracy or motivation basedrnon racism.”rnFaulted as well were the FBI, the Bureaurnof Alcohol, Tobacco and P’irearms,rnthe U.S. Marine Corps, and “white constructionrnfirms,” all of which were supposedlyrndestroying evidence of the arsonists’rnracist motivations. According tornthe report, since the media was ignoringrnthe rampant church arsons, the NCCrnand the two centers plotted a “comprehensivernmedia campaign” that startedrnwith a joint press March 27 press conferencernm Atlanta featuring Coretta ScottrnKing, Mac Jones, and C.T. Vivian.rnThe campaign has been enormouslyrnsuccessful. The imploding and, until recently,rnlargely ignored National Councilrnof Churches has gained a fresh, new gushrnof constant publicity. In March, the ReverendrnJones had complained that “lawrnenforcement seems to have refused tornaggressively pursue not only the investigationrnof the bombings.” By late June,rnUSA Today was reporting that 1,000 federal,rnstate, and local agents were investigatingrnthe arsons. Information andrnclaims from the NCC, CDR, and CCRrnwere accepted, until very recently, withrnlittle questioning; rarely mentioned wasrnthe well-known left-leaning politicalrnagenda of such groups. The CCR, forrnexample, is commonly described inrnmedia reports as merely a “civil rightsrngroup,” though it was founded by radicalrnlawyer William Kunstler to, in his words,rn”bring down the system through the system.”rnOver the years the center hasrnwaged lawsuits on behalf of terroristsrnfrom the Baader-Meinhof gang, thernPuerto Rican Socialist Party, and Palestinianrngroups. It has also defended thernhomosexual rights group, ACT-UP.rnMore recently, the center has sided withrnKaren Finley, the “artist” who receivedrnfunds from the National Endowment ofrnthe Arts for smearing her nude body withrnchocolate before live audiences. Therncenter’s director, Ron Daniels, has advocatedrnthe payment of “reparations” byrnthe federal government to all descendantsrnof black slaves in America.rnAs for the NCC itself, its interest inrnchurch burnings appears to be an extensionrnof its ongoing investigation of “humanrnrights abuses” in the United Statesrnthat began in conjunction with thernWorld Council of Churches in 1993.rnCouncil-sponsored hearings across thernnation in 1994 discovered that the UnitedrnStates was on the verge of a “racernwar.” Advances against racism in America,rnaccording to one council official, hadrn”only wounded the beast and made itrnmeaner.”rnIn February 1995, the National andrnWorld Councils of Churches presentedrntheir testimony about American racismrnbefore the United Nations HumanrnRights Commission in Geneva. As domesticrnremedies had failed, the councilsrnwanted “international” intervention asrnthe only recourse for America’s oppressed.rnIn recounting evidence of UnitedrnStates racist intransigence, church testimonyrncited promotion of “Englishrnonly” policies, “Mr. Newt Gingrich’srnContract With America,” California’srnProposition 187, the 1994 federal crimernbill’s “three strikes and you’re out” legislation,rnand the November 1994 election’srn”revolution of 4 million angryrnwhite men.” Whether they wanted thernUnited Nations to overturn the electionrnwas unclear.rnWhat the church councils did wantrnwas a special United Nations monitor ofrn44/CHRONICLESrnrnrn