Instead of peacefully providing a safe haven for observances of faith, places of worship in the U.S. are beginning to prepare for the worst amid the recent events in the War on Terror, experts told Hollie McKay of Fox News.
Two men operating for ISIS killed a Normandy, France, priest, slitting his throat in open church in late July, signaling places of worship as potential targets for terror in the U.S. and abroad.
There has yet to be a Normandy-like attack in the U.S., but Father Josiah Trenham of St. Andrew Orthodox Church in Riverside, Calif., now has security officers on hand at services after a non-violent incident in April, months before the French attack.
“It is a deep sorrow to live this way in the ‘new America,'” he told Fox News. His parish received a threat, an ominous warning for the attack that would take place in July, when a green Honda Civic passed by and a man yelled from a bullhorn “Allahu Akbar!”
“Be calm and to keep a special vigilance over the property and our children while we are at church,” Trenham emailed to his attendees after the incident, per the Fox News report. “Pray that these provocative young men might repent of their intimidation and be saved.”