Church burnings

Church arson is the burning or attempting to burn of religious property. Around the world, arson is committed because empty churches are a soft target, or due to racial hatred, or as part of a sectarian campaign of communal violence.

In the United States, arson of black churches was common in south around the 1960s during the civil rights struggles.Arson continued to proliferate, especially in the 1990s, damaging many black churches. As a result, Congress passed the Church Arson Prevention Act in 1996. In addition, President Bill Clinton formed the National Church Arson Task Force due to the sharp increase in church arson. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) was created as a division of the Treasury Department in 1972 to investigate arson (it is now a part of the Department of Justice).

Following the Charlie Hebdo shooting, 45 churches were burned down in Niger.

On 6 June 1992, the Fantoft Stave Church, a wooden structure built in 1150 in Fortun, when the Vikings converted to Christianity, and moved to Bergen in 1883, was burnt down. At first the fire was attributed to lightning and electrical failure. In January 1993 Varg Vikernes, also known as "Count Grishnackh", was interviewed by a local journalist in his apartment decorated with 'Nazi paraphernalia, weapons and Satanic symbols'. Vikernes, a proponent of White nationalism, survivalism and his Neo-völkisch ideology, has declared that he wants to blow up Blitz House and Nidaros Cathedral. He has publicly supported black metal fans burning down eight churches in Norway. He used a photo of the charred remnants of one church taken soon after the fire on his band Burzum's album entitled Aske (Norwegian for ashes). Following his statement the Norwegian authorities began to clamp down on black metal fanatics.

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