Since at least 1822, when the first recorded burning of a black church occurred in South Carolina, church arson has been the default response of racists frustrated with progress — or even the faint specter of progress — on civil rights. More than even lynching, burning houses of worship remains a go-to weapon in hate groups’ arsenal. Torching churches such as Mount Zion persisted decades after the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, 100 years after Booker T. Washington dined at the White House and 150 years after the end of the Civil War.

What’s the enduring appeal of this very specific terrorist act for those who wish to express hate?

The reason black churches remain a target: Because black churches have always remained a symbol of hope in the darkness of American racism.

During the early years of the black church in the South, when most congregants were enslaved and the rest still subject to the restrictive racism then the law of the land, Christianity offered solace and inspiration to African American worshippers. In the introduction to the award-winning digital library collection “The Church in the Southern Black Community,” professor Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill explained how black Americans converted to Methodist and Baptist traditions around the turn of the 19th century.

“Clergy within these denominations actively promoted the idea that all Christians were equal in the sight of God, a message that provided hope and sustenance to the slaves,” she wrote.

Among enslaved people, religious gatherings were called “hush harbors” — a phrase evoked by President Obama during his impassioned eulogy for the slain pastor of Emanuel AME last week. These secret meetings were the birthplace of African American spirituals, which always carried a double meaning of religious salvation and freedom from slavery, and of the inextricable link between black spirituality and black liberation.

“Part church, part psychological refuge, and part organizing point for occasional acts of outright rebellion … these meetings provided one of the few ways for enslaved African Americans to express and enact their hopes for a better future,” Maffly-Kipp wrote.

Read the article “Why Racists Burn Black Churches” on washingtonpost.com.