600 places of worship in NI attacked over five years
Arson attacks, break-ins and sectarian graffiti are among some of the issues.
Last updated 27th Aug 2020
Concern has been expressed after figures showed there have been more than 600 attacks on places of worship in Northern Ireland in the last five years.
According to police statistics, there have been 601 incidents of criminal damage to religious buildings, churchyards or cemeteries since 2014/15.
The number of attacks has remained relatively consistent each year, with 136 in 2014/15, 128 in 2015/16, 118 in 2016/17, 115 in 2017/18 and 104 in 2018/19.
Most recently, St Saviour's Church in Craigavon suffered an arson attack in July, while Brantry Parish Church in Co Tyrone was attacked, with a window smashed and damage caused to the interior.
On Easter Sunday, Sacred Heart Church in Ballyclare was attacked with paint and in 2018, St Mary's parish church, in Limavady was sprayed with paramilitary graffiti reading ‘UDA’ and ‘UFF.’
Both the Belfast Synagogue and Belfast Islamic Centre have also suffered property damage in the last 10 years.
The figures were uncovered by Christian Action Research & Education (Care NI) following a Freedom of Information request.
Mark Baillie is the Project Manager from the group, he said the kind of attacks the charity have noticed over the years are diverse, but certain attacks are sectarian hate crimes he said:
“There’s statistics recorded every year about the number of cases of hate crime, sometimes sadly it is sectarianism between different denominations, which again, hoping as a society were moving away from that, but sadly year on year we still seem to see these kind of attacks.
“The kind of attacks range, you see it really is a very diverse set of circumstances.
“Some of the Ministers find it really difficult to take.
“Sometimes, it’s just a crime of opportunity, it may just be young people who feel like having a bit of fun and break into a building and graffiti it or vandalising the building.
“In other cases, it can rise to the level of hate crime, there’s no question about that.”
Mr Baillie said that over the last five years the 601 different incidents that have happened across the country do affect local parishioners, some find it hard to comprehend he said:
“Particularly just knowing that someone in your community has that kind of level of distain for you or indeed as far as hate, in some cases they would come in and damage your building.
“In some cases, we’ve seen graveyards vandalised, which is obviously very difficult for people who have loved ones who they’ve lost and 601 that’s on average one attack every three days being recorded in this society."
“It’s also the psychological tole it takes, as you can imagine for faith communities, it’s quite a hammer blow.
“I don’t want to imply that somehow the faith communities here are being persecuted because that is not the case at all we’re very much free in this society to live out our faith, but what we’re seeing here is a significant social issue where faith communities are facing difficulties.”
The Christian charity has called on the Stormont Executive to consider policies to ensure that places of worship are properly protected.
It has previously called for a Places of Worship: Protective Security Funding Scheme to be set up, mirroring a similar scheme available in England and Wales.
The Scottish Government has announced it is introducing a similar scheme there, leaving Northern Ireland as the only part of the United Kingdom without such a scheme.
Mr Baillie added: “Potential victim of hate crime or has been a victim of hate crime would apply to the scheme, they would pay for 20% of the security upgrade that would be available and it’s a range of upgrades that would be available.
“So, it could be changing the locks on your building, it could be flood lighting outside your building, or it could be fencing.
“But, again all voluntary it’s up to the faith community concerned to determine."
A Department of Justice spokesperson said: “The Minster condemns any attack on a place of worship and recognises the distress this can cause to members of a faith community and the disruption that resulting damages can have.
"Officials are continuing to explore evidence based information in relation to such attacks to assess if any scheme in Northern Ireland is required.”