Just in the past six weeks there have been attacks on a synagogue in Manchester, England; a Michigan congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and a Catholic church in the United States hosting a Mass for school children. Statistically, attending a weekly worship service is a remarkably safe thing to do. Global annual attendance totals many billions while the number of people killed in attacks on individual houses of worship in any given year is generally less than a few hundred. Yet high-profile deadly attacks in recent years have intensified anxiety and outright fear among clergy and worshippers worldwide. Security measures have been bolstered, congregants have been placed on alert, and yet the key question lingers: Can believers feel safe and at peace while worshipping together? Another of these high-profile attacks occurred in October 2018, at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh where 11 worshippers from three congregations were gunned down. “ The wounds still run deep here in Pittsburgh for a lot of people. So there always is a little bit of fear out there,” said Eric Kroll, Deputy Director of Community Security at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. The Jewish Federation and synagogues in the Pittsburgh area had actually began systemic security trainings even before the 2018 attack. “The security program at the Jewish Federation started in 2017. The first director was Brad Orsini, he was retired FBI. And we had coordinated to do an active shooter drill to help the police develop the rescue task force. And also to help, you know, do a test of security. And that was done at the JCC in January of 2018, which was just 10 months before the Tree of Life. A lot of the lessons that were learned there were used in training and awareness for the Tree of Life,” said Kroll. Some of the training recommendations, such as keeping a phone on hand for emergencies even on the Sabbath, when observant Jews normally wouldn’t use a phone, helped saved lives during that attack. “And we've had testimonials from some of the survivors of that made the difference that day. They were able to survive that attack based on the lessons that were learned from that,” he said. And the federation continues to evaluate attacks such as the one in Manchester to prepare for assailants' evolving tactics. “Any time that that an incident happens, we try and learn as much as we can from the incident and we, you know, compare it against what we are doing right now. Unfortunately, the bad guys in these situations, they're only limited by their creativity. It might be, in Manchester, it was with a vehicle and with a knife. In Michigan, the actor rammed the vehicle, his vehicle into the building and set the building on fire. So they're always evolving in their tactics, and we just have to be able to respond to that and again, do sort of an all hazards approach to mitigate any of those situations that may happen and keep the people safe,” said Kroll. Although there is fear, Kroll and many religious leaders who have faced these attacks do not want to lock church doors, but are encouraging greater vigilance and preparedness. “We train and we prepare under the guise of empowerment. Like, we don't want people not to go and worship. We don't want people to not to gather and have, you know, time with their families and with their congregations, right? Unfortunately, there are bad things and there are people that want to do harm to us and our families, our congregations. If you teach ways to respond to those things, you know, it empowers people to go and live their lives,” he said. As for next steps, in the United States, religious leaders are urging Congress to expand the Nonprofit Security Grant Program. It helps nonprofits and houses of worship pay for security system upgrades and emergency planning. In Britain, after the recent Manchester attack, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said more police resources would be deployed at synagogues. From both the Jewish and Muslim communities in Britain, there are calls for authorities and civic leaders to curtail antisemitic or anti-Muslim vitriol that might incite future attacks.