LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Rev. Stephen Marsh never thought he’d see the day his church in Laguna Woods, Calif. — a town of 16,500 mostly populated by retirees — would be spending $20,000 a month on security.
A gunman then opened fire on May 15 during lunch at the Geneva Presbyterian Church where Marsh is senior pastor, killing one and wounding five other members of a Taiwanese congregation that had gathered there. Officials said the man, who was motivated by political hatred against Taiwan, chained the church doors and hid firebombs inside before opening fire on the gathering of elderly church members.
Houses of worship are meant to be places of shelter, reflection and peace where strangers are welcome. But the recent spate of high-profile mass shootings in the U.S. is a reminder that violence can happen anywhere, prompting some religious leaders to step up security.
Geneva Presbyterian now has armed security guards on duty every weekday and during Sunday services. The church is also adding more security cameras, developing an active shooter plan and applying for funding from the Department of Homeland Security.
“We’re not trying to militarize the church,” Marsh said. “We prayed about it and made the decision to have armed guards as an act of faith.”
Without the new security measures, Marsh predicted the shooting would have followed a mass walkout of the congregation and schools on the church’s campus.
Creating a space that is both safe and welcoming is possible, said Rabbi Charlie Saitron-Walker, the former spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas.
In January, he and three others were taken hostage by a man with a gun during a Shabbat service. Cytron-Walker threw a chair at the gunman – a brave act that helped them escape safely – after a nearly 11-hour standoff. He credits the several rounds of active shooter training he took.
“When you can’t run or find cover, you have to find a way to act and fight back,” Cytron-Walker said. “When we were most afraid he would kill us, I saw a moment I had been looking for all day.”
Cytron-Walker now leads Temple Emanuel in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. As he works on a security plan with his new congregation, he considers how a welcoming synagogue can improve safety, “because someone who wants to do harm can see that they won’t be able to come in anonymously.”
Historically, shrines have been vulnerable to violent attacks, from bombings of black churches during the Civil Rights era to more recent shootings in the US at mosques and Sikh gurdwaras. In the US, FBI hate crime statistics show that incidents at churches, synagogues, temples and mosques increased by 34.8% between 2014 and 2018.
“All faiths are under attack in America by radicals and extremists,” said Alon Stevie, a security consultant for synagogues, Jewish community centers and day schools. Some congregants refrain from showing up.
“They ask a lot more questions: ‘Should I come to the weekly services or just come for the holidays?’ And if I come, do I have to bring my children?’
Religious leaders who once preferred to leave security in the hands of the divine are taking precautions that seemed unthinkable years ago, Stevie said. More and more worshipers are carrying concealed handguns to services, he said.
From $25 million in 2016 to $180 million last year, the federal government has steadily increased the amount of funding it sets aside to help the faith community with security costs, Stevie said. But not all religious leaders are aware that they can apply for it, he said.
Previous attacks on houses of worship and other public places have prompted religious leaders to assess – sometimes for the first time – whether there is more that can be done to keep their flocks safe.
Today, an armed police officer oversees Sunday services at Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, said the Rev. Kaylon Middleton, who leads the congregation. When an officer cannot be on campus for church events, members carrying concealed weapons stand guard.
“It’s sad, but we’re in times where we have to have armed guards to protect our people,” he said.
The church is two blocks from Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. In 2015, a self-proclaimed white supremacist opened fire during a Bible study, killing nine worshipers, including the senior pastor. Middleton said the late pastor was like a brother to him.
In the wake of the massacre, discussions about security at Mount Zion have factored worship style into the equation, including the need for some to keep their eyes open at all times, especially when most have closed their eyes in prayer, Middleton said.
“No one ever thought that mass shootings would happen in churches, which are sacred sanctuaries where you can escape the world and seek spiritual refuge,” he said. “When this space is disturbed, it creates a disturbance of the spirit.”
After the 2018 massacre at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue, Rabbi John Lehner met with New York City police to discuss safety at BKLYN, his home ministry that welcomes thousands.
For years, he and his wife, Faith, unlocked the front door just before Shabbat evenings, believing in Judaism, where no door is closed or locked. That changed after the Tree of Life attack, the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in US history. Leener also installed a security camera and visitor onboarding system. He hired armed guards after this year’s hostage situation in Texas.
“It’s terribly unfortunate that we live in an age where we have to compromise our value of openness about the threat of violence, but that’s the reality right now,” Leaner said.
It’s a balancing act for many. Marsh said the shooting at his church happened because members of the Taiwanese congregation welcomed the gunman, a man they did not know.
“The church must be welcoming to all people and we cannot lose that,” he said.
“Is there a way for an active shooter to re-enter our campus? yes But we have to be ready for it to happen again. Otherwise we’ll all have to go through metal detectors. It would no longer be a church.
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Henao reported from New York.
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Associated Press religion coverage is supported through AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from the Lilly Endowment Inc. AP bears all responsibility for this content.
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