Threats and vulnerabilities of places of worship

Ensuring security in places of worship is challenging. On the one hand, places of worship are frequent targets of terrorist attacks or hate crimes due to their symbolic significance or historical relevance. On the other hand, both religious buildings and their attendees face a wide range of other safety and security issues, ranging from property crimes to natural hazards. These risks are further amplified by specific nature and characteristics of places of worship. For example, most of these sites are easily accessible and designed to be open and multifunctional, functioning not merely as sacred places, but also as centres for cultural, educational, and other community activities. This means that they attract diverse groups of people, including worshippers, tourists, and workers. Furthermore, many of these places are historical buildings that were simply not constructed with contemporary safety and security requirements in mind. However, this aforementioned complexity is often overlooked, both by managers of places of worship and public authorities, which, in turn, increases the risk people being harmed, religious communities being disrupted, or economic losses being incurred. Based on these considerations, this report aims to provide an extensive classification of the different types of threats and vulnerabilities that can potentially endanger places of worship. Specifically, the report considers eight different categories of threats faced by places of worship, which encompass both crime and antisocial behaviours, as well as incidents and natural hazards. Moreover, it categorises and discusses seven common vulnerabilities characterising religious places. Whilst these classifications are by no means exhaustive, they nevertheless provide a realistic overview of the complexity of managing places of worship. Finally, the report puts forward some recommendations to enhance security and safety in these places. The information included in this report was collected from various sources, including: an analysis of extant literature on this topic, such as academic articles and reports by both private and public institutions; findings from previous EU-funded projects or initiatives about the protection of places of worship; discussions, input and contributions from participants in SHRINEs workshops; conversations with experts on crime and security issues; and a systematic analysis of case studies retrieved from news and press releases.