436 acts of hostility against US churches documented in 2023: report

February 22, 2024

The Family Research Council reports that hostility against churches in the United States appears to be on the rise. According to The Christian Post, that report identified 436 incidents against churches in 2023.

That’s more than double the incidents for 2022 and more than 8 times the incidents identified in 2018. The conservative Christian group released its “Hostility Against Churches” report earlier this month cataloging incidents of vandalism, arson, gun-related incidents and bomb threats over the past year.

Some of the incidents fell into more than one category with vandalism and arson being the most common.

FRC President Tony Perkins said, “There is a common connection between the growing religious persecution abroad and the rapidly increasing hostility toward churches here at home: our government’s policies.”

The reported hostile acts were spread out across 48 states and incidents were more likely to occur in states with larger populations. Wyoming and Hawaii reported no incidents while California and Texas had the highest number of reported incidents.

The report states that a dozen incidents included “satanic imagery or symbols.”

Arielle Del Turco is the director of the FRC’s Center for Religious Liberty and the author of the report.

She noted:

“They send the message that churches are not wanted in the community or respected in general. Our culture is demonstrating a growing disdain for Christianity and core Christian beliefs, and acts of hostility against churches could be a physical manifestation of that.”

Photo: top, Credit: Facebook/Eastport Methodist Church