Tim Easton leading a church security session.
Several years ago, the security industry experienced an increase in demand for protective presence at houses of worship, following an increase in crime at such places, with some experts tracing the flashpoint to the massacre at a Charleston, South Carolina church in 2015.
The programs and training were soon tested, as in a 2019 incident where a former FBI agent, who was working a security detail at his Texas church, killed a crazed gunman who opened fire.
Despite incidents such as this, and church security training programs like Tim Easton's Castle Defense 360, violence against houses of worship has apparently continued.
The most recent example being the Jan. 15 standoff at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. The standoff concluded with gunman Malik Faisal Akram, 44, a British Muslim, shot dead by law enforcement and all his hostages freed without harm, but not before he demanded the release of convicted terrorist Aafi Siddiqui.
Siddiqui, a Pakistani also known as “Lady al Qaeda," was convicted in 2010 of a plot to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan.
And just last month, security was increased at synagogues in Massachusetts after a man approached a security officer at a Brookline, Mass. temple and began asking suspicious questions, including "including the number of members and if anyone can just walk in off the street," according to the story by WCVB.
As unfortunate as it sounds, it's possible that this is the "new normal" for houses of worship in the United States -- that they have to spend time, money and resources on security, whether it be training a team of congregants or hiring an outside security firm -- when all they want is to express their religious freedom.
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