JOURNALIST
Sympathy for groups that have been abused throughout history can lead to jumping to conclusions based on clear moral discourse, which can have serious consequences.
In the 1990s, Norway was hit by several church fires. From 1992 to 1996, nine churches were burnt down, while a total of 17 churches burned down or were completely damaged. The image of a completely burnt-out Fantoft stave church shook an entire nation. Eventually, it became clear that the writers belonged to a black metal background where flirtation with Satanism and hatred of Christianity were central.
It seems totally inconceivable that something similar would happen today, the black metal scene has long been caught in the heat of the moment and church burnings seem more like a fragment of the mythological past than a few decades in back.
One might think that church fires no longer occur except by lightning or by fires in electrical installations. In Canada, however, it smells scorched after the country was hit by a wave of church fires during the 2021 pandemic, surpassing the Norwegian church fire era of the 1990s. A total of 83 churches were vandalized or set on fire.
