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A religious site is sacred for anyone practicing faith and should not be a place of fear for anyone. The recent attack inside a synagogue in Texas could have been prevented if there were more security implemented inside Jewish places of worship.
Four Jewish people were held hostage by the attacker and it’s a miracle they all left alive. The United States should do more to protect religious sites, especially synagogues since Jewish people have high hate crime rates and make up over half of religious hate crimes.
The Texas Tribune shared the history of violence of recent attacks on religious sites such as the 2017 attack at First Baptist Church in Texas. A total of 26 people died and 20 were injured. Attacks are even more prevalent in Jewish communities.
There is a need for more security in places of worship, especially marginalized religions. Safety at religious spaces should be taken seriously.
It is clear the attack was antisemitism that could’ve been prevented if the FBI had taken threats seriously. An FBI spokesperson said it was not related to the Jewish community, according to MSNBC.
However, attacks on Jewish spaces are nothing new. The FBI needs to take this seriously as a hate crime and work to prevent more in the future.
Religious sites should spend more money on security services for the protection of their followers. Many religious sites can actually afford security on the sites, so there should be an investment for protection, particularly in the Jewish community.
It is understandable that many religious leaders won’t allow guns inside a sacred place but some sort of security should be figured out. It is better to have some sort of protection and procedures than nothing in case of an attack.
It’s an unfortunate world where people have to plan for attacks on places of worship, but it’s, unfortunately, the reality right now. For everyone’s safety, synagogues should prioritize security in order to protect against an attack.
Jason Perez is a journalism and political science senior who can be reached at [email protected]
