Christians, Jews Take Matters Into Their Own Hands Amid Surge In Attacks

In response to a rising wave of attacks on their schools and houses of worship, Christian and Jewish communities across the country are fortifying their security measures, faith leaders and safety experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation exclusively, pointing to escalating risks.

The reality of the growing threat was underscored on Aug. 27, when a transgender-identifying individual opened fire at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, leaving two children dead and 21 others wounded. The shooter inscribed his firearms and magazines with phrases such as “where is your God,” as well as “Israel must fall” and “Free Palestine,” leading authorities to investigate the incident as an act of anti-religious domestic terrorism.

“We’ve heard from many churches that are perceiving more security threats and choosing to train volunteer security teams to protect churches during services,” Arielle Turco, director of the Center for Religious Liberty at the Family Research Council, told the DCNF.

The threats are not merely perceived, they are documented. The Family Research Council recorded over 1,300 acts of hostility toward churches in the U.S. between 2018 and 2024, including gun-related incidents, bomb threats, arson and vandalism. A significant portion of the total occurred just in the last two years, with 485 documented cases in 2023 and 415 in 2024.

Chuck Wilson, board chairman of the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS), which provides free school safety resources, noted that inquiries from faith-based schools about bolstering security have increased sharply in recent years.

“We’ve heard from a growing number of parochial schools that want to know if our guidelines can be used for them, too. And the answer is absolutely, yes,” Wilson told the DCNF. “Our group gets together and we think about what is driving all this, and the big thing that we want to make sure is that we don’t normalize evil.”

Wilson added that “copycat crimes” are a pressing concern, citing similarities between the Minneapolis attack and the 2023 Covenant School shooting in Nashville.

Audrey Hale — a female who identified as male — shot and killed three children and three faculty members at the Tennessee private Presbyterian school in March of 2023. The Metro Nashville Police Department investigation concluded Hale deliberately targeted a Christian school, believing the choice would bring more attention to the crime and that the students would be ‘meek and afraid.

Juan Rivera, who pastors Victory Church in Youngstown, Ohio, one of the largest congregations in the area, said the church has expanded its security training as threats have grown more serious in recent years.

“Our greeters and ushers are trained to notice, report, we control entry points during services, we practice de-escalation, medical response, we keep a tight line with local law enforcement,” Rivera told the DCNF. “It’s gotten a lot more serious than just a few years ago. And obviously, that’s why we are prepared.”

The Archdiocese of New York, which serves 2.5 million Catholics across nearly 300 parishes and 153 schools, has likewise made security a standing priority.

“Our attention to these sorts of threats is heightened,” Rev. Ryan Muldoon, director of the Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue for the Archdiocese of New York, told the DCNF, adding that the tragedy in Minneapolis has served as a reminder of the need to prioritize security.

For years, the Archdiocese has offered active-shooter seminars to parish staff and volunteers, Muldoon said. Attendees with law enforcement experience, legal firearm licenses and necessary training may even serve as armed safety ushers during Mass.

Such measures have already prevented bloodshed in other parts of the country. A man who opened fire outside CrossPointe Community Church in Wayne, Michigan, on a Sunday morning in June was struck by a vehicle and then fatally shot by an armed member of the church’s security team, averting what could have been a mass shooting.

As Christian churches respond to an uptick in attacks, Jewish communities — targets of nearly 70% of the religion-based crimes in 2024, according to the FBI — have also strengthened security measures.

The 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, which left 11 dead, marked a turning point, said Eric Fingerhut, president of the Jewish Federation of North America (JFNA).

“The shooting in Pittsburgh was a real wake-up call — an alarm bell — for upgrading the security for our own synagogues and institutions significantly,” Fingerhut told the DCNF. “Like the churches, we didn’t have this knowledge five, six years ago.”

Jewish organizations now spend $765 million per year on security-related costs, according to JFNA. The need for such measures has only intensified since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack on Israel and the subsequent rise in pro-Hamas and antisemitic activity in the U.S.

In late May, two Israeli embassy staffers, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, were fatally shot outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., by an assailant who shouted “free Palestine” as he was taken into custody. Two weeks later, an Egyptian national living in the U.S. illegally hurled incendiary devices into a group of pro-Israel demonstrators rallying for hostages held by Hamas, as he shouted “free Palestine,” killing one and injuring more than a dozen others.

JFNA has invested hundreds of millions in security initiatives and has worked closely with Christian and other religious communities to share expertise, according to Fingerhut. A recent $9 million grant program, which funded security personnel for Jewish early childhood centers, also provided guidance to other religious groups on safety practices and grant applications.

“We’ve done everything we can in terms of philanthropy, but we can’t enjoy the freedom of religion that this country provides if it’s only dependent on whether Annunciation Church or some other church was able to employ full-time private security,” Fingerhut said.

Federal programs also provide resources to help places of worship guard against attacks. Most notably, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program, established in 2004, provides hundreds of millions in funding for security upgrades such as cameras, security personnel, barriers, and training each year. The program is allocating $275 million this year alone, though both JFNA and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have appealed to Congress to increase funding.

Many states also have their own security grants for nonprofits and schools to address security risks, including in Minnesota, where the Annunciation School shooting occurred. Still, Catholic leaders there have pressed lawmakers for more resources, citing heightened threats against religious schools.

Following the Covenant School in Nashville in 2023, Tim Benz, the president of MINNDEPENDENT and Jason Adkins, the executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, urged Democrat Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to make $50 million in additional grant funding available to support school safety, including for non-public schools.

“The tragedy from last week at Covenant School must never happen in Minnesota or in our country again,” they wrote in a letter dated April 14, 2023. “We need to ensure that all of schools have the resources to respond to and prevent these attacks from happening to our schools.”

Their plea went unheeded, Adkins told the Daily Wire.

Fingerhut said he will continue to raise funds for security and support churches in strengthening their protection measures, but stressed the need for expanded funding at all levels of government.

“The only way we’re gonna get to the level of security that we need is with the full and coordinated attention of the federal government, led by the president and the leaders of Congress — and we know they care about this,” said Fingerhut.