Report counts hostile acts against U.S. churches in 2024

A report released Monday counted more than 400 hostile acts against churches in the United States last year. The Family Research Council’s report, “Hostility Against Churches in the United States,” catalogues acts of vandalism, arson, bomb threats, gun-related incidents, and other crimes involving houses of worship. The conservative nonprofit’s first such report was released in 2022, cataloging incidents back to 2018. Since then, the Family Research Council has released one report annually. The latest report brings the total number of incidents identified by the nonprofit across its history to nearly 1,400.

What were some of the report’s findings? The year 2024 saw a decrease in incidents after several years of steady growth. The report catalogued 50-200 incidents per year from 2018-2022. The number of hostile acts against churches spiked dramatically to 485 in 2023, according to the report, before dropping to 415 in 2024. California saw the most incidents in 2024 with 40 individual reports, followed by Pennsylvania with 29. Florida, New York, Texas, Tennessee, and Ohio also ranked high on the list.

What form did the hostile acts take? Of the 415 incidents identified last year, 284 were classified as acts of vandalism, according to the report. There were more than 50 incidents of arson, 14 bomb threats, and 28 gun-related incidents.

Dig deeper: Read Bekah McCallum’s report about full-fledged persecution of Christian churches in Nicaragua.