Christian churches and groups are under attack

OPINION:

Houses of worship in America are under attack, and the situation is increasingly dire. 

The latest example of anti-religious fervor struck a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Michigan when a crazed madman drove his car into the building, opened fire and then set it ablaze. 

It was a spectacle so hellish, so inhumane and Satanic, one can only assume it was hatched and ideated in the bowels of hell.

The killer is said to have been rabidly anti-Mormon in the days leading up to the deadly assault. This claim was bolstered by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who said the FBI was digging up information that concluded the accused “hated people of the Mormon faith.”

Regardless of the motive, the tragic horror led to the death of four victims and became yet another traumatizing event with which the American people have been forced to grapple. 

Far from an isolated incident, attacks on religious institutions are increasingly becoming an uncomfortable pattern. Churches, Christian schools and other religious establishments have become convenient venues for such assaults as evil seeks to root out truth and goodness.

Just weeks before this travesty, yet another horror took form at the Annunciation Catholic Church in Minnesota when a trans-identifying shooter approached the building as adults and children were in the middle of worship and opened fire through the stained glass.

Two precious innocents were slaughtered — Fletcher Merkel, 8, and Harper Moyski, 10 — with 15 kids and three adults injured in the attack. 

One struggles to understand how a person could be so filled with wickedness as to callously approach a church and murder children and adults as they honor God. Yet that’s what unfolded.

The shooter left behind a slew of paperwork describing the impending attack, offering accolades to other mass shooters and expressing hate. Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota Joseph Thompson said the individual “was obsessed with the idea of killing children.”

One of the most disturbing elements to come from the killer’s trove of scribbles, journals and rantings is a drawing of him standing in front of a mirror and seeing a demon staring back. Ironically, the image of such evil helps explain what truly drove his diabolical quest to kill: a demonic penchant for claiming innocents. 

These two events only scratch the surface of the ongoing assaults on churches and Christian schools in recent years. It would be impossible to discuss these events without also mentioning the murderous rampage that unfolded at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2023.

The shooter, a female who also identified as transgender, killed three children and three adults. The disturbed shooter was meticulous in researching and planning the event as well, showcasing just how vile her obsession with claiming lives had become.

Mass shootings have no doubt become commonplace in America. It’s no longer a surprise when we hear stories of attacks on schools, grocery stores and other gathering places. 

But the increase and metastasizing of attacks on churches and religious schools should have us sounding numerous alarms. Experts have gathered the receipts to show that these diabolical assaults on religious institutions are statistically increasing – and at a deeply troubling rate.

The Family Research Council, an evangelical think tank, tracks anti-church incidents, including bomb threats, arson, vandalism and other crimes, and has yielded some truly spine-chilling findings. 

“To date, FRC has identified 1,384 acts of hostility toward U.S. churches, occurring between January 2018 and December 2024,” a data summary reads. “These acts are destructive and have the potential to intimidate religious communities. Therefore, they deserve to be condemned.”

The most recent report found 415 incidents in 2024, down from the record high of 485 in 2023 and yet still “significantly higher than the yearly totals recorded in 2018 through 2022.” For context, there were only 50 incidents in 2018, 55 and 2020 and 198 in 2022, providing a lens into the escalation of anti-church violence that is becoming patently undeniable. 

Meanwhile, churches are starting to respond to fears and worries surrounding these trends. A heartbreaking story in The Washington Post titled, “Houses of Worship Tighten Security Amid Rising Number of Attacks,” recently detailed how churches and synagogues are implementing intricate means to protect themselves in “response to deadly attacks on religious communities.” 

And just weeks after the assassination of conservative and Christian commentator Charlie Kirk — a man known for his political and religious views — these worries are even more top of mind. 

These church attacks expose something deep: a festering spiritual rot that demands a fix. They expose what happens when hearts and minds devoid of God’s love and truth are unleashed. 

The only solution is to reach lost and confused people with biblical truth — the only basis of goodness that elevates life, emphasizes love for others and extinguishes such horror. Our culture must lean into faith, not try to extinguish it, as the cost is simply too high.

• Billy Hallowell is a digital TV host and interviewer for Faithwire and CBN News and the co-host of CBN’s “Quick Start Podcast.” Mr. Hallowell is the author of four books.