FB-ISAO Releases an All-Faiths Analysis of Attacks on U.S. Houses of Worship in 2024

The number of incidents involving casualties increased significantly by thirty-three percent

On 09 September 2025, the Faith-Based Information Sharing and Analysis Organization (FB-ISAO) released its 2nd annual analysis and review of Attacks On Houses of Worship. Being an all-faiths and all-hazards information-sharing organization FB-ISAO examines the threats to all-faiths and denominations as opposed to others who may focus on one. We also examine the full spectrum of threats and attacks that diverse faith-based institutions face.

FB-ISAO tracked a total of 841 attacks on Houses of Worship (HOW) during 2024, compared to 1027 attacks2023. While the overall number of incidents declined, the number of incidents involving casualties increased significantly by 33%. Amongst the four groups that saw the highest number of incidents, attacks on Muslim facilities increased. Hindu facilities saw the largest increase, with a 600% jump from 2 to 14 attacks over the course of the year. This year’s report also includes a case study which is an analysis of attacks on Protestant Churches. Data was collected daily from an AI-filtered data stream of 400 open-source websites published or maintained by the news media, news aggregators, non-profit research organizations, online commentators, social media sources, and government agencies. The collection spans the ideological, political, and religious spectra. According to Ed Heyman, co-chair of FB-ISAO’s Operational Resilience Group and the project’s principal data collector and analyst, “We undertook this effort to improve decision making with regards to securing our communities. Our biggest takeaway has been that attack types houses of worship face vary by faith, location, and demographics. This finding is counter to the cookie-cutter solutions they often apply, and recommends a more data-driven approach.”

The 2024 threat data report includes key findings and implications for securing houses of worship. Some notable findings include:

• Attacks in 2024 decreased 18% over 2023. The most significant decrease was in bomb threats.
• Despite the overall decline in numbers, violence and casualties increased.
• While only 8% of incidents had casualties, with 23 killed and 78 wounded (up from 5% in 2023), the number of violent incidents was up 33% from 2023.
• The majority (96%) involved assaults, including ramming, kidnapping, and suicide.
• One injury occurred during a robbery, and two casualty-inducing incidents involved fireworks pranks that injured six people.
• We train for the worst case, the active assailant. Yet firearms and bladed weapons were reported in only 13% of incidents – but that number increased 30% from last year. The most common implements reported remain fists and everyday objects found on the scene, including rocks, bricks, and other blunt objects. Keeping grounds clean of rocks, scrap, and items that can be repurposed as weapons or tools for vandalism may significantly reduce damage to statuary, windows, and building exteriors.
• Attacks on Jewish, Muslim, and Catholic HOWs whose congregations represent <10% of all HOWs continue to be targeted disproportionately, in 44% of attacks. This number is down from last year, when they were targeted in 51% of attacks.
• Hardening entrances and barriers to entry pays off: 73% (up from 67% last year) of incidents involving casualties occurred outside the house of worship. Fences, locked doors, and security patrols can save lives by keeping assailants at bay.
• Incidents with Casualties: Handguns were used in 31 (46%) of the 67 incidents with casualties; bladed weapons in 9 (13%). Long guns were used in only one incident. Hands, teeth, chairs, canes, spikes, and fireworks also appeared.
• Targets vary by location, religion, and demographics. The types and targets of attack vary by religion and state. Threat assessments should take into consideration the identity and location of the HOWs.
• Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia experienced at least one incident, all except Montana and Hawaii. Half of all incidents were clustered in 9 states, the same as last year, but in different nine states.
• In light of the ongoing threat to HOWs of all faiths, the FB-ISAO wants to encourage communities to explore the CISA-developed guidance “Physical Security Performance Goals for Faith-Based Communities” and to encourage members to continue to report incidents to the appropriate law enforcement, as well as on FB-ISAO’s Slack Workspace.

These and other findings are explored in greater depth in the report. With this being the second year of reporting, we are able to perform a year-on-year analysis of the data which provides a deeper understanding of the threat landscape and could further assist with making fact-based, data-driven decisions to help secure people and places of faith.

In 2024, the FB-ISAO was the recipient of a grant award from the Department of Justice. The grant award would have funded the operationalization of threat data into a series of resilience workshops for Houses of Worships across the country. With more robust analysis of hate crime data and a deeper drill down into threat types and locations, the FB-ISAO would have been able develop prevention and response exercises for Houses of Worship and their law enforcement partners. Unfortunately, the grant funding was rescinded in April 2025 thus robbing beneficiaries of the opportunity to enhance community preparedness.

Our efforts to represent all-faiths and to pull-in data from more sources will be strengthened by greater participation and collaboration. If you’d like to discuss how you can join FB-ISAO or to collaborate with us, please write to info@faithbased-isao.org.

• Read about our coverage on AP News.
• Access the 2024 Threat Data Report.
• Access the 2023 Threat Data Report.

If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact us.

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