Conspiracies and Facts. Where Does This Map of “Burned Churches” Come From in France in the Last Four Years?

There are many conspiracies surrounding the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, as many attacks on Christian churches and cemeteries have taken place across France in recent years.

I have already explained why these attacks occur, here. This map does not represent Muslim only attacks, as Muslims have very little to do with these incidences.

The far right often create fake-news stories or take a story out of its original context to demonise Muslims, and thus, further dividing the communities with obvious propaganda. 

Where does this map actually come from?

The map is off the Observatory of Christianophobia (l’Observatoire de la christianophobie) site which lists various anti-Christian acts from around the world since 2016, as you can see:

For each icon on the map, there is a link to a description of the act reported and sourced by a press article, often local.

It counted 26 fires or fire attempts that took place in or near churches in 2018. In two cases, it was most likely accidental.

To better explain, here is an excellent article from 2017 on this subject: What about profanations of Christian places of worship and burials? (in French). I will only highlight important points from this article:

“On February 1, 2017, at a press conference on Beauvau racist and antisemitic acts, Bruno Le Roux, Minister of the Interior, reveals that the attacks on Christian sites (places of worship and burials), accounted for separately, increased by 245% between 2008 and 2016. With 949 incidents in 2016, up 17.4% from 2015, acts against Christian places account for 90% of all attacks on places of worship (Christian, Jewish or Muslims).”

An important part of these attacks are acts of vandalism (399) and theft of religious objects (191). We also speak of acts with satanic connotations that often occur on April 30, which is both the birthday of Adolf Hitler and the founding of the Church of Satan in the United States.

According to a 2009 note from the Directorate General of the National Gendarmerie (DGGN), 83% of the profaners are minors and 79% are male.

The facts mainly concern Christian sites (308 churches and 214 cemeteries in 2010, figures that are 33% higher than in 2009), then Muslim places (50 mosques and 7 cemeteries + 216%) and Jewish places (30 synagogues and 12 cemeteries -36% after a spectacular increase between 2008 and 2009). Figures for 2011 show 434 acts of degradation in Christian sites.

As previous studies have noted, acting out often occurs in groups after excessive alcohol consumption, idleness, or the work of people with psychiatric disorders.

All these surveys show that the perpetrators are very young, between thirteen and twenty-five years old, and most of them come from broken families with a great deal of domestic violence.