CHRISTIAN DAILY/ THE CHRISTIAN POST-
Hostility against churches in the United States appears to be on the rise, according to a recent Family Research Council report that identified 436 incidents against churches in 2023, more than double the amount reported by the group in 2022 and eight times the number identified in 2018.
The conservative Christian advocacy organization released its latest “Hostility Against Churches” report this month, which FRC updated to include hostility incidents from the calendar year 2023.
The organization has collected data about acts of hostility against churches since 2018, identifying 915 such incidents over the past six years.
Between January and November 2023, FRC reported that at least 315 occurrences of vandalism, 75 arson attacks or attempts, 10 gun-related incidents, 20 bomb threats and 37 other incidents took place at churches. According to the report, 17 of the incidents fell into more than one category, with vandalism and arson being the most common combination.
“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,” FRC President Tony Perkins said in a Tuesday statement.
“The indifference abroad to the fundamental freedom of religion is rivaled only by the increasing antagonism toward the moral absolutes taught by Bible-believing churches here in the U.S., which is fomenting this environment of hostility toward churches,” he continued.
According to FRC, the rise in hostility against churches has “neither slowed nor plateaued” since its inaugural report in 2022 but has “accelerated” instead. Continue reading…
