Church arson is the burning of, or attempting to burn religious property. Common motives for committing church arson are racial hatred, pyromania, greed, prejudice against certain religious beliefs or anti-religious sentiment in general. It may also be part of a sectarian campaign of communal violence, a means of anonymously registering dissent or due to churches being a soft target.

In 2015, St. James Roman Catholic Church in Brighton, Melbourne burned to the ground after sexual abuse allegations came out regarding former Roman Catholic priest Ronald Pickering. Actress Rachel Griffiths, formerly a member of the church, said she was 'quite elated'.

St. Mary's Catholic Church in Dandenong, also connected to Pickering, burned in a suspicious fire as well. St. Mary's Church in St Kilda East was damaged by a suspicious fire after being connected to former priest and convicted child sex offender Kevin O'Donnell.

The historic St. John's Anglican Church of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, built in 1754, caught fire in a suspected arson on Halloween night, 2001. It was later rebuilt and reopened on June 12, 2005.

Police in Merritt, British Columbia in January 2019 arrested and charged a man with a fire that destroyed the 143-year-old Murray United Church, and two other more minor church fires nearby. He later pled guilty and was sentenced to 24 months of house arrest on condition he refrain from drug and alcohol use.

In November 2020, St. Andrew’s Anglican Church and South Caradoc United Church, both in Muncey, Ontario, were destroyed by fire. Its pastor said "anger from things that happened, that may have something to do with it,” and the diocese cautioned against speculation and called for responsible reporting. Former Anglican clergyman David Norton had been convicted of sex crimes against children in his parish.^{[non sequitur]}

After the 2021 Canadian Indian residential schools gravesite discoveries, some B.C. Catholic churches on First Nations land were deliberately burned to the ground. An Anglican church in B.C. was also set on fire but the fire was isolated and put out. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and band governments and chiefs have condemned the arsonists. Harsha Walia, the executive director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, tweeted "burn it all down," and the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs expressed "strong solidarity with [Harsha Walia] in condemning the brutally gruesome genocide of residential ‘school’ system by Canada and Church".

Prior to Pope Francis's visit to Chile in January 2018, a number of arsons at churches took place in the capital city of Santiago, and some were linked to threats against the Pope. The papal visit was dominated by the sex crimes of Fernando Karadima, whose protégé, Bishop Juan Barros was protected by the Pope, despite accusations of complicity. A pamphlet left at another scene made references to Mapuche causes. President Michelle Bachelet said in a radio address that those responsible for the "strange" firebombings, "can express themselves as long as they do it in a peaceful way."