ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, August 6, 1996 TAG: 9608060051
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
About 200 people turned out for a restoration rally to support the Glorious Church of God in Christ, whose congregation is working to rebuild after the church was destroyed in an arson fire that is unsolved.
``The whole community has come together to let everyone know that one mad arsonist will not affect our spirit,'' Rep. Robert "Bobby" Scott, D-Newport News, said at the rally Sunday. ``If we're going to do anything about the church burning, we're going to have to do something about the hatred.''
Virginia Attorney General Jim Gilmore, who has led Southern attorneys general in coordinating church-burning investigations, said he was inspired to see ``something good coming out of something that's evil.''
In the past 20 months, fires have hit more than 30 black churches. The Glorious Church of God in Christ was gutted in February.
``Without this tragedy, we may not have had the opportunity for good people to come together and to speak out and to work together, all of us unified as one community,'' Gilmore said. ``All of us working together, we can succeed and we can rebuild and we can unify.''
City Councilman Rudy McCollum said he was angered by the ignorance of people ``who would even dare to think that by desecrating or attempting to destroy a facility of God's people, that they could in any way mitigate the spirit that is in the hearts and the souls of God's children.''
Meantime, separate marches to protest the church burnings and support community unity were held Sunday in Charlottesville and Farmville.
``If people see us unite, if we are the base here, it could spread,'' said Jacinta Wiley, a 19-year-old choir member of Farmville's Spirit of Life Church of God in Christ.
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