America’s churches are increasingly coming under physical attack as political polarization increases, the Family Research Council found in an analysis to be released Thursday.
The District-based advocacy group said 137 attacks on churches were reported in 2022, nearly three times the 50 attacks reported in 2018. Reported vandalism more than doubled, with 99 incidents reported this year versus 41 four years ago.
There were 18 reports of arson for 2022, twice the total of 2021 and 61% higher than the 11 arsons reported in 2018.
The FRC reported that abortion-related attacks on churches hit 57 by September, as opposed to none in 2018 and one or two in each of 2019, 2020 and last year.