A new report by the nonprofit Family Research Council has found that targeted attacks against churches in the United States have dramatically increased over the past several years.
The report documented 1,384 incidents between January 2018 and December 2024. Only 50 were recorded in 2018, followed by 83 in 2019, 55 in 2020, and 98 in 2021. The numbers then spiked to 198 in 2022, 485 in 2023, and 415 in 2024.
“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 stated.
The report obtained its data through public sources, including documents, reports, and media coverage. It reviewed instances that covered topics such as “church threats,” “church vandalism,” and “church arson.”
“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.”
The states with the most incidents last year were California with 40, followed by Pennsylvania with 29, Florida and New York with 25 each, Texas with 23, and Tennessee and Ohio with 19 each. The report noted that states with larger populations generally had higher numbers of attacks, which is consistent with previous years.
“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not represent the full scope of hostility against churches, as many cases likely went unreported to law enforcement or unpublished by news outlets or other publicly available sources,” it added.
The findings come in the wake of a tragic shooting last weekend at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minnesota, where a gunman opened fire, killing two children and injuring 18 others. The shooter was found to be a biological male who identified as female.
