The National Coalition for Burned Churches and Community Empowerment recently released its compilation of statistics on the number of houses of worship that continue to be ravaged by arson, firebombings or attempted arsons.
The statistics reveal the attacks are continuing at comparable or higher levels than those reported several years ago when the issue dominated media and governmental attention.
Between 1999 and 2001, the coalition documented 685 cases of arson, bombings, attempted arson and suspicious or undetermined fires at houses of worship.
That figure includes 452 cases of arson, 36 bombings and 51 unsuccessful arson attempts. An additional 146 fires during that period were ruled suspicious or undetermined. Total numbers of incidents surpassed 200 each year.
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