Seven churches in New Zealand were targeted in a suspected arson attack on Saturday night, with significant damage caused to multiple buildings. However, the incident has largely gone underreported by the mainstream media.
The BBC was among the few major outlets to cover the attack, which occurred in Masterton, a town located north of Wellington.
Authorities reported that four churches, including the Anglican Church of the Epiphany, St. Patrick’s Catholic Church Masterton, Masterton Baptist Church, and Equippers Church Masterton, suffered “moderate to significant” damage.
Evidence also suggests three additional buildings were targeted but did not catch fire.
Emergency services were alerted to the fire at Masterton Baptist Church only after responding to another church blaze. Broken windows, burnt chairs, and scorched upholstery have been described by local media as part of the damage.
Fortunately, all fires were extinguished and no injuries were reported.
David Dew, an elder at Masterton Baptist Church, reportedly expressed concern over the deliberate nature of the attack. “This deliberate act is very upsetting, and the fact that people or persons unknown have felt they could plan – you don’t normally have seven, we’ll call them firebombs, at hand. You have to make them,” Dew said.
New Zealand police are currently investigating the attacks and are providing security around the affected churches.
Despite the severity of the incident, mainstream media outlets have been notably quiet. The lack of coverage and failure to categorize the attacks as “hate crimes” or “Christophobia” is revealing, if anything. There’s no doubt, that if the targets were mosques or synagogues, the global response would likely be far different.
The silence is unsurprising, especially considering how the recent beheadings of 70 Christians in Congo by Islamic militants barely made the headlines.
Christians remain the most persecuted religious group in the world, with anti-Christian persecution rapidly spreading geographically and increasing in severity.
In the past 20 years, more than 2.4 million Christians have been killed through bombings, shootings, and beheadings. At least 75% of all religiously motivated violence and oppression targets Christians.
In certain areas, the level of persecution against Christians is so extreme that it is nearing what could be considered “genocide” under the international definition adopted by the UN.
If you were getting your information purely from mainstream media outlets, however, you really wouldn’t know. They just don’t care whenever it conflicts with their manufactured narrative.
