A Church Is Burning Lyrics

Lyric discussion by magda-ka 

Cover art for A Church Is Burning lyrics by Paul Simon

I believe it is about slavery of the black people(in the USA, most probably)

'Three hooded men' - Ku Klux Klan 'where just hours before Voices were singing and hands were beating' - Gospel 'saying, "I won't be a slave any more."' - self-explanatory

The person speaking in the song could even be Martin Luther King..