While the Biden administration cracks down on the Christians Democrats and the press smear as extremists, church attacks are up 800 percent in the last six years, according to a new report from the Family Research Council (FRC).
In February, the conservative group published the report, “Hostility Against Churches Is on the Rise in the United States.” It identified 915 acts of hostility against churches between January 2018 and November 2023.
“Although the motivations for many of these acts of hostility remain unknown, the effect is unmistakable: religious intimidation,” said FRC Center for Religious Liberty Director Arielle Del Turco in a press release. “They send the message that churches are not wanted in the community or respected in general. Our culture is demonstrating a growing disdain for Christianity and core Christian beliefs, and acts of hostility towards churches could be a physical manifestation of that.”
The report found hostile church incidents more than doubled in 2023 compared to 2022, with 436 counted a year after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision returned abortion lawmaking to state legislatures. The number of attacks in 2023 was more than eight times greater than those reported in 2018.
A large majority of the incidents in 2023 were vandalism, “such as rocks being thrown through the window,” according to the report.
“Several incidents were related to Ohio Issue 1,” the report added, “a ballot measure in support of amending the state constitution to protect abortion.” The ballot measure passed by 13 points last fall.
Elite smears have increasingly targeted Christians in America, as the American center in the culture wars shifts away from abortion and transgenderism. Since the Dobbs ruling in 2022, the Democrat-controlled FBI has infiltrated churches looking for domestic extremists and prosecuted pro-life demonstrators for public prayer. Church firebombings, however, faced minimal investigation.
[READ: 5 Times The Biden Admin Persecuted Christians For Living Their Faith]
At the same time, the Beltway press has warned Americans about the alleged threat of “Christian nationalism” associated with the triumphant return of former President Donald Trump. Just last week, MSNBC panelists promoted a new book labeling “white rural voters” existential threats to democracy in part, because “they’re also the most strongly white nationalist and white Christian nationalist.”
In February, Politico published a hysterical analysis of Trump, a twice-divorced Manhattan businessman, as a champion for “Christian nationalism,” defined as Americans who “believe that the country was founded as a Christian nation and that Christian values should be prioritized throughout government and public life.” Politico reporter Heidi Przybyla, who co-authored the magazine’s article on “Christian nationalism,” followed up with an appearance on MSNBC.
“The one thing that unites them as Christian nationalists — not Christians by the way, because Christian nationalists is very different — is that they believe that our rights as Americans, as all human beings, don’t come from any earthly authority; they don’t come from Congress; they don’t come from the Supreme Court — they come from God,” Przybyla said.
Federalist Senior Editor David Harsanyi, an atheist, wrote about her remarks in a column last week. “If This Is ‘Christian Nationalism,’ Sign Me Up!” Harsanyi headlined his article.
As numerous critics have already pointed out, ‘Christian nationalism’ sounds identical to the case for American liberty offered in the Declaration of Independence. Then again, the idea that man has inalienable, universal rights goes back to ancient Greece, at least. The entire American project is contingent on accepting the notion that the state can’t give or take our God-given freedoms. It is the best kind of ‘extremism.’