Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post 19 November 2024

These updates are shared to help raise the situational awareness of Faith-Based organizations to best defend against and mitigate the impacts from all-hazards threats including physical security, cybersecurity, and natural disasters.

FB-ISAO Event Reminder

FB-ISAO 101: Become acquainted with FB-ISAO

Join us for the informational session on Wednesday 21 November 2pm ET. Register Here.

The Faith-Based Information Sharing and Analysis Organization (FB-ISAO) is the only all-hazards and all-faiths security information source for the faith-based community that actively works to build resilience across the entire community of faith. 

During this short session, you’ll learn:

• How we work together to improve the overall security posture of the community.
• What it means to be a part of an all-faiths and all-hazards information sharing community.
• Member benefits.

Why Neo-Nazis marched in Ohio this weekend, and almost every weekend in the U.S.

About a dozen neo-Nazis marched on Saturday through downtown Columbus, Ohio waving swastika flags. The march was just the latest of hundreds of such rallies held across the nation in the past two years. “Almost every single weekend, white supremacists are rallying in some neighborhood,” said Oren Segal, vice president of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism. The group’s data found 282 such events in 2023. This summer alone, there were 64 white supremacist events across 25 states.

Analyst Comments

These types of marches can be used to intimidate, but can also lead to either direct hostile acts towards houses of worship, or members of faith-based communities being targeted. If you have not already done so, we recommend reviewing our report “Attacks on Houses of Worship: 2023 Year in Review”.

OIDAC Europe Report 2024

In it’s “Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe Report 2024″ the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe (OIDAC Europe) identified 2,444 anti-Christian hate crimes which were documented by police and civil society in 35 European countries in 2023, including 232 personal attacks on Christians, such as harassment, threats and physical violence.

Analyst Comments

According to OIDAC Europe, countries of particular concern were France, with nearly 1,000 anti-Christian hate crimes in 2023; the United Kingdom, where incidents rose to more than 700; and Germany, which saw a 105% increase in anti-Christian hate crimes, rising from 135 in 2022 to 277 in 2023.

In addition to violent attacks, OIDAC Europe’s report also found discrimination against Christians in the workplace and in public life in some European countries, leading to increasing self-censorship among Christians in Europe.

The past year has also seen a number of restrictions on religious freedom by European governments, ranging from bans on religious processions to the targeting of Christians for the peaceful expression of their religious beliefs.