US Churches targeted in wave of attacks

US Churches targeted in wave of attacks

CATHOLIC CHURCHES and Christian iconography have been targeted in a wave of attacks which are apparently mystifying religious leaders in the US.

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) recorded 128 incidents since May 2020, covering 35 US states. 

Some have involved the destruction of stained glass windows, stealing from religious property, or even arson.

Millions of dollars of damage was the result of an attack on a Catholic school in the state of Ohio, and a 250-year-old church was targeted with fire in California.

Among the victims of the mystifying attacks is Washington DC’s national basilica, where an unidentified man hammered away at a marble statue at the shrine.

He was caught on CCTV vandalising the statue of Our Lady of Fatima in December 2021.

While some leader claim to not understand a motive behind the increase in attacks, others have put forward that it may be down to the issue of abortions in various US states.

Last week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a state-wide ban on abortion after the 15-week mark, while just days earlier, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt introduced a bill constituting an almost total abortion ban in the state, backed by a number of religious leaders.

With the church desecretations, Mark Haas, of the Archiocese of Denver, has said that many incidents in Colorado have “anti-Catholic, pro-abortion messages”.

He described: “The ones that have been targeted at us have been pretty brazen and pretty aggressive.”

He added: “Where they’re spray painting messages, it usually is around abortion."

 

 



 

 

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