After controlling for structural properties, White supremacist demonstrations did not increase the likelihood of church burnings. A motivational typology of burners was observed that revealed hate group participation as a factor in less than 5 percent of cases, while more salient motives appeared to be vandalism and larceny (60 percent). Further analysis revealed that church burnings, particularly African-American church burnings, were not significantly related to hate group activism across counties once structural and demographic properties were taken into account. The American South witnessed an increase in church burnings during the mid-1990s that was characterized by the national media as a function of resurgent racism. However, there has been no systematic empirical analysis of the issue. This study examined all incidents of church burnings (N=72) in the State of South Carolina for a 10-year period between 1990 and 2000. The study examined whether the church burnings were indeed a function of hate group activity or if other structural properties accounted for variation between and among the incidents of church burnings in the 46 counties of South Carolina. Tables and references