Wave of Church Attacks in 2024 Wave of Church Attacks in 2024

 The attacks appear most frequently in large states such as California (40 incidents), Pennsylvania (29), New York (25), Florida (25), and Texas (23). By contrast, several less-populated states, including Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, reported none.

Wave of Church Attacks in 2024 Sparks Concern Over Religious Freedom in the United States | ZENIT - English

LOCAL CHURCH, PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS Church Attacked In The United States Photo: Hispanidad Wave of Church Attacks in 2024 Sparks Concern Over Religious Freedom in the United States The attacks appear most frequently in large states such as California (40 incidents), Pennsylvania (29), New York (25), Florida (25), and Texas (23). By contrast, several less-populated states, including Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, reported none. AGOSTO 12, 2025 20:36TIM DANIELSLOCAL CHURCH, PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS WhatsAppMessengerFacebookTwitterShare Share this Entry (ZENIT News / Washington, 08.12.2025).- The United States saw a troubling surge of hostilities against Christian churches in 2024, with incidents ranging from vandalism to arson, shootings, and bomb threats. According to a report released on August 11 by the Family Research Council (FRC), 383 congregations suffered 415 separate attacks during the year—figures that may surprise those who think of America as a secure bastion of religious liberty. While the numbers mark a slight drop from the record 485 incidents in 2023, they remain far above levels seen just a few years ago. In 2021, only 98 churches were targeted. By 2022, that figure doubled, and since then, the pace of attacks has remained historically high.

Wave of Church Attacks in 2024 Sparks Concern Over Religious Freedom in the United States | ZENIT - English

The report, based on open-source documents, news coverage, and official records, details a spectrum of crimes: 284 acts of vandalism, 55 arson cases, 28 shootings, 14 bomb threats, and dozens of other disturbances including physical assaults and disruptions of worship services. In some cases, the violence proved deadly. In Athens, Tennessee, a church secretary was killed before her church was set ablaze, its roof collapsing in the fire. In southern Ohio, four churches burned within days of each other in August, leading investigators to suspect a single arsonist—though no arrest has yet been made. Financial damage has been equally sobering. One congregation in Tulsa, Oklahoma, spent \$100,000 repairing air conditioning units deliberately destroyed, just a year after replacing another system for \$40,000 following a separate act of vandalism.

Wave of Church Attacks in 2024 Sparks Concern Over Religious Freedom in the United States | ZENIT - English

The attacks appear most frequently in large states such as California (40 incidents), Pennsylvania (29), New York (25), Florida (25), and Texas (23). By contrast, several less-populated states, including Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, reported none. The motivations behind the hostility remain varied and, in many cases, unclear. While a wave of abortion-related vandalism followed the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, those incidents have sharply declined—from 59 in 2022 to just two in 2024. Likewise, reported satanic symbols or messages fell from a dozen in 2023 to only one last year. Anti-LGBTQ+ attacks on churches also decreased slightly, from 42 to 33 cases.

Still, FRC Vice President Travis Weber warns that such crimes—whatever their origin—signal a worrying cultural shift. In an interview with The Daily Signal, he linked some of the hostility to divisive rhetoric from organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which lists the FRC on its “hate map” alongside extremist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.

The SPLC has long accused the FRC of spreading misinformation to oppose LGBTQ+ rights, a charge the council rejects. Weber argues that such public branding fosters an atmosphere where places of worship become targets. The SPLC, for its part, denies being anti-Christian and has recently added Focus on the Family to its map, citing its stance on same-sex marriage. This is not merely a theoretical debate. In 2012, an armed attacker attempted a mass shooting at FRC’s headquarters after consulting the SPLC’s hate map—a fact the SPLC condemned at the time but which the council continues to cite as an example of the dangers of inflammatory labeling.

Despite their sharp disagreements with pro-LGBTQ+ congregations, FRC’s latest report explicitly condemns attacks against them, stressing that disagreement over theology is never a license for violence. “The solution,” Weber says, “is not to disrupt, vandalize, or steal, but to speak truth about human dignity as revealed in Scripture.” As the data suggest, America’s churches—whether urban cathedrals or rural chapels—are facing a level of hostility that was once unthinkable in a nation proud of its religious freedoms. The reasons may differ, but the effect is the same: communities of faith left shaken, facing the question of how to protect their sanctuaries in a climate of growing cultural friction.