Attacks on US churches have risen significantly since 2021, report finds

Attacks targeting churches in the U.S. have increased significantly in recent years, according to a report, and the recent shooting at a Minnesota Catholic school is the latest example.

In the report, the Family Research Council, an evangelical nonprofit and activist group, identified 1,384 incidents of hostility against U.S. churches between January 2018 and December 2024.

The group recorded 50 incidents in 2018, 83 in 2019, 55 in 2020 and 98 in 2021. 

The report then found a dramatic rise in incidents beginning in 2022 when there were 198 recorded instances, followed by 485 in 2023 and 415 in 2024. 

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There was then a dip last year, although 415 incidents were still reported, affecting a total of 383 churches across 43 states, according to the group.

“In 2024, the number of incidents leveled off with 415. However, this total from one 12-month span is nearly equal to the findings from our very first report, which covered 57 months,” the report reads. The group’s first report was released in 2022.

California recorded the most incidents last year with 40, followed by Pennsylvania with 29, Florida and New York with 25, Texas with 23 and Tennessee and Ohio with 19.

“As in previous years, states with larger populations tended to have more incidents,” the report said.

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The group said the data was obtained by reviewing open-sourced documents, reports, and media coverage that contained terms like “church threats,” “church vandalism” and “church arson.”

“Although the total number of incidents slightly decreased in 2024, we observed a continuation of many of the previous year’s trends,” the report reads. “Vandalism remained the most common type of incident, many states with high numbers of incidents in 2023 also ranked among the top in 2024, and many incidents were similar in nature to those from the previous year. Some significant differences in 2024 were the increase in gun-related incidents and the decrease in incidents motivated by pro-abortion sentiments.”

“We identified 415 incidents in 2024; however, this figure may not represent the full scope of hostility against churches, as many cases likely went unreported to law enforcement or unpublished by news outlets or other publicly available sources,” it continued. “We rely on these sources for our data, which we compile and analyze to find patterns.”

While the motivations behind many of these incidents remain unknown, the rise in crimes against churches is happening as fewer Americans are attending religious services in person.

The report comes amid the Wednesday morning shooting that unfolded at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minnesota, leaving two children dead and 18 others injured, including more than a dozen kids from the school.

Police found the shooter, who was wearing black “tactical” gear and carrying at least two long guns, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. The shooter was born as a male but began identifying as a female and underwent a legal name change in 2019.