Security not just taken on faith in some NC churches

The mass shooting at a Texas church on Sunday has reignited discussions in the Triangle about how to keep local houses of worship safe.

As they did after the murder of nine people at a prayer service in Charleston, S.C., two years ago, church officials are reaching out to law enforcement and local elected leaders about their safety concerns in the wake of the shooting deaths of 26 people at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, during Sunday morning services.

Rev. Reggie Rushing, pastor of Louisburg Baptist Church, said his church is similar to the church in Texas – small, rural, close-knit.

"How is it that such terrible things happen to people who are good?" Rushing said Monday.

Even before the shooting, he said, church leaders had discussed beefing up security, from locking the doors once a service starts and putting a peephole in the front door to hiring a security guard.

"Locking up a church is the very antithesis of what churches for 2,000 years preached – open arms, inclusive, just as you are," he said.

Rushing said he also met with Louisburg's mayor and police chief Sunday night about tangible ways to keep his congregation safe.

Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison said different faith groups have already reached out to his office since the Texas shooting for tips about improving security. He has dispatched deputies to walk through various houses of worship to provide advice.

Harrison also plans to ask deputies if they would provide a visible law enforcement presence when they go to church on Sundays.

"Could they drive their patrol cars to church and have a marked car out front – visible in some way – and be in uniform?" he said.

Some houses of worship allow members to carry handguns, which some people see as another layer of protection.

"It came to my attention that there are probably eight to 10 people (in my congregation) who have concealed carry permits, and many here on Sunday are carrying," Rushing said.

Even with such added measures, he said, there is no guarantee of safety in a church, where most people have their backs to the front door.

"The truth of the matter is, the answer is, nowhere," Rushing said when asked where someone could be safe, if not a church.

"We live in free society that we all cherish. In free societies, there is always the element of heinous acts," he added. "We cannot perfectly maintain our security and maintain a free society."

Temple Beth Or in north Raleigh plans a 7 p.m. interfaith vigil for the victims of the Texas shooting.