church burnings
Torching holy buildings
Church burnings are the deliberate arson of churches, often motivated by racial hatred, religious hostility, or anti-institutional sentiment.
The term gained prominence in the United States during waves of attacks on Black churches, particularly in the civil rights era and again in the 1990s.
Church burnings may also occur as hate crimes against other religious communities or as acts of anti-Christian expression in some subcultures: The rash of church burnings prompted federal investigation.
- arsonCriminal deliberate burning
- fire damageDestruction from flames
- hate crimeOffense motivated by prejudice
- racial terrorViolence aimed at ethnic groups
- racismPrejudice based on ethnicity
vandalism · flames · desecration · ashes · congregation · steeple · pews · terrorism · investigation · smoke · charred remains · rubble · holy ground · white supremacy · hate group · civil rights · South · bombing
- Christian persecutionNero, Colosseum, crucifixion, martyrdom, catacombs
- hate crimeshate crime, racial attack, antisemitic attack, hate groups, racial violence
- American ChristianityBaptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Episcopalians
- Jim CrowJim Crow laws, separate but equal, segregation laws, Plessy v. Ferguson, whites only
- Norwegian MusicGrieg, Edvard Grieg, Aurora, TNT, Arcturus
- War Atrocitiestorture, mass graves, summary executions, concentration camps, prisoner abuse
church burningschurch building
Religious worship facility
cathedral building · church restoration · groundbreaking ceremony · laying the cornerstone · church dedication
church burningsreligious freedom
Right to practice faith
religious tolerance · sanctuary · religious liberty · freedom of worship · religious pluralism
church burningselectrical fires
Flames from power faults
church, burning, churches, churched, churchly, churchgoer, burn, burns, burned