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    Safe houses of worship

    Safe houses of worship: Security for every faith, in the form each congregation chooses.

    Religion was the motive for 22.9% of victims of hate crimes in 2025. Attacks reach every faith, and each congregation deserves to choose how it stays safe.

    Try it in the sliderTalk to Ryan

    Ryan K. Hertel · heyitskenton

    The problem

    What we're up against.

    • Hate crimes, in every faith.

      Police agencies reported 10,881 hate crime incidents in 2025, and religion was the motive for 22.9% of victims. The FBI's data records crimes against Buddhists, Catholics, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs and many more.

    • At the doors of worship.

      386 of those hate crimes took place at a church, synagogue, temple or mosque.

    • The worst days.

      A federal review of 37 targeted attacks on houses of worship counted 64 people killed.

    • Everyday crime too.

      About 40% of congregations had a crime, most often vandalism or theft, in the year before a national survey.

    What works

    Proven, and ready to grow.

    • A plan in layers.

      Federal guidance recommends a security plan in several layers, with clear roles for who does what.

    • Assess first, then choose.

      It advises starting with an assessment of each building's real risks, and the government offers a free self-assessment designed for people with little training.

    • Open and protected.

      The same guidance says a welcoming place isn't the same as a defenseless one.

    • Guards who stay.

      The median security guard earns $38,020 a year, and turnover in the industry reached 89% in a year. Paying guards well is how a family's initiative could keep trained, friendly faces at the door.

    What a family could fund

    Where the money goes furthest.

    • Match the federal grants.

      The Nonprofit Security Grant Program has $300 million this year, up to $200,000 a site, for planning, equipment, training and guards.

    • Thousands turned away.

      It received more than 7,000 applications asking for more than $1 billion, and funded more than 1,600, most of them houses of worship of many faiths.

    • Schedules that respect every holy day.

      Employers are required to reasonably accommodate workers' religious practice, and the Supreme Court set a high bar for refusing. A guard team that staffs many faiths can rotate so no one works their own holy day.

    Honest limits

    What money can't promise.

    • Little proof of prevention.

      Research on congregations' security is sparse, and federal guidance itself says these measures won't deter every threat.

    • Armed guards, an open question.

      In a study of school shootings, armed guards weren't linked to fewer injuries, though schools aren't houses of worship and stopped attacks can't be counted.

    • Security can feel unwelcoming.

      Some leaders see security as a threat to keeping a sacred space open to its community, and only 17% of congregations used guards at all.

    • Grants favor the well resourced.

      Larger and wealthier congregations already have more security, grants go to the highest-scored applications, and projects are expected to finish within three years.

    Hard questions

    Asked and answered.

    1. You might ask

      Does security actually stop attacks?

      Ryan

      No one knows for sure. Federal guidance recommends layers, but it says plainly that no set of measures will deter every threat.

    2. You might ask

      Won't guards make a sacred place feel like a checkpoint?

      Ryan

      They can, which is why each congregation chooses its own form of safety, including none.

    3. You might ask

      Why match a federal program instead of giving directly?

      Ryan

      It already reviews and scores thousands of applications, and demand keeps outrunning its money. A family could also pay for help writing applications, so smaller congregations get a fair chance.

    In the slider

    See what your fortune could do here.

    Safe houses of worship

    The slider prices this cause with these numbers:

    • Up to $200,000 secures one site, the federal grant program's limit.
    • The whole need is the applications the program turned away: about 5,400 a year, since it got more than 7,000 and funded more than 1,600.
    • Not every applicant is a house of worship, and the security they choose is recommended by federal guidance, not proven to prevent attacks.
    Try it in the sliderTalk to Ryan

    More of the Blueprint

    Keep reading.

    Back to Keep 100

    Sources

    Every number in this chapter, and where it came from.

    1. Source 1: Hate Crime Statistics (opens in a new tab)

      US Department of Justice, 15 September 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.

      A summary of the FBI's hate crime data for 2025. The share is of victims of crimes with a single bias.

    2. Source 2: Hate crime national totals, 2025 (opens in a new tab)

      FBI Crime Data Explorer. Checked 16 October 2026.

      Live data, refreshed often, so counts can shift slightly.

    3. Source 3: Mitigating Attacks on Houses of Worship Security Guide (opens in a new tab)

      Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, December 2020. Checked 16 October 2026.

      Federal guidance, with a review of attacks from 2009 to 2019.

    4. Source 4: How safe is your place of worship? (Scheitle and Ulmer) (opens in a new tab)

      The Conversation, 2 November 2018. Checked 16 October 2026.

      The researchers' own account of their national survey of congregations.

    5. Source 5: Mitigating Attacks on Houses of Worship Security Guide (summary) (opens in a new tab)

      Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Checked 16 October 2026.

    6. Source 6: Protecting Houses of Worship Resources (opens in a new tab)

      Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Checked 16 October 2026.

    7. Source 7: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics: Security Guards, May 2025 (opens in a new tab)

      US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Checked 16 October 2026.

      The median yearly wage, from the agency's data service.

    8. Source 8: Underpaid, Undervalued, and Essential: The Security Guard Workforce in the United States (opens in a new tab)

      UC Berkeley Labor Center, 22 July 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.

      A university research center that argues for higher labor standards.

    9. Source 9: Notice of Funding Opportunity: Nonprofit Security Grant Program, Fiscal Year 2026 (opens in a new tab)

      Federal Emergency Management Agency, 24 June 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.

    10. Source 10: Nonprofit Security Grant Program fulfills less than one-quarter of 2026 applications (opens in a new tab)

      Jewish Insider, 30 September 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.

      Reporting figures from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

    11. Source 11: Religious Discrimination (opens in a new tab)

      US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Checked 16 October 2026.

    12. Source 12: Groff v. DeJoy, No. 22-174 (opens in a new tab)

      Supreme Court of the United States, 29 June 2023. Checked 16 October 2026.

      A unanimous decision, as published by Cornell's Legal Information Institute.

    13. Source 13: Religious Congregations' Experiences with, Fears of, and Preparations for Crime: Results from a National Survey (Scheitle) (opens in a new tab)

      Review of Religious Research, March 2018. Checked 16 October 2026.

    14. Source 14: Presence of Armed School Officials and Fatal and Nonfatal Gunshot Injuries During Mass School Shootings, United States, 1980-2019 (Peterson, Densley and Erickson) (opens in a new tab)

      JAMA Network Open, 16 February 2021. Checked 16 October 2026.

      Schools, not houses of worship, and it can't count attacks that never happened.

    15. Source 15: Soft Targets and the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (IF13201) (opens in a new tab)

      Congressional Research Service, 9 April 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.