Tag: Law, Crime & Court

We've spent the past week bringing you stories of religion and violence from around the country – what happens when violence crosses thresholds in churches, synagogues and mosques? Here's a quick wrap-up, where you can find all the stories in one place.

We wrap up our "Religion & Violence" series this week in North Carolina with a decades-old story. Since the bombings that rocked the Free Welcome Holiness Church’s parsonage and sanctuary on Sellerstown Road near Whiteville 35 years ago, pastors hired there often hear something like this: “You mean you’re going to preach at that church that used to get blown up all the time? You’re gonna get shot.” That’s how the Rev. Roger Coffey, the church’s current pastor, remembers the dire warnings he heard in 2001. But for those on Sellerstown Road who experienced the 10 bombings from 1972 to 1978, plus the shootings of a pastor and his wife there, the memories are still close.

In observance of the “National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims”, the Spokane County Victim/Witness Unit will hold a vigil on Sept. 25 in the County Commissioner’s Hearing Room on the Lower Level of the Public Works Building, 1026 W. Broadway Ave., from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

What happens when your worship space burns to the ground, and no one even knows who or what is at fault? How do you go on? An Islamic community in Joplin shows us what resilience looks like and how courage helps to heal.

As citizens of the greater Spokane/Coeur d’Alene community we have been visited with senseless violence once again. Delbert “Shorty” Belton of Spokane was beaten to death Wednesday night, Aug. 21,  in the parking lot of the Eagles Lodge as he waited for a friend. Two teenage boys have been arrested and could be charged with is death.

Trying to predict and prevent all acts of violence is impossible, whether in a mosque or a church, a movie theater or a school. But developing strategies to prevent and intercept the threat of an active shooter or other potential violent attacks has increasingly become a priority for America’s houses of worship.

Ron Aguiar knows that the ringing of bullets in a house of worship will soon be followed by the sound of his ringing phone.

Aguiar is a church security expert who advises houses of worship on security strategies.