Cincinnati, Ohio — Each week brings an average of two arsons, seven thefts and 19 burglaries at U.S. churches, according to Christian Security Network’s second annual year-end report of church crimes.
The report, which uses news articles, police blogs and verified personal reports to compile its data, showed a slight increase in most church crimes in 2010 from 2009, for a total of 1,783 incidents.
That figure was up 546 from the year before and included 970 burglaries, 397 thefts, 102 arsons and 89 counts of vandalism, the report stated.
The report only covered churches and not other houses of worship, such as mosques or synagogues.
“Two years is not long enough to prove any trend,” said Jeffrey Hawkins, the founder and executive director of the Cincinnati-based group. “We will know better after another year or two if this keeps trending up. Maybe this year was just a bad year. Maybe we got better at finding out what had happened.”
Hawkins hopes the upswing in crimes committed against churches will encourage churches to take security more seriously and will help those who have been victimized to realize they are not alone.
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