The clergy are coming under increasing risk of physical attack but too much emphasis is being put on them to protect themselves. It's about time everyone else joined in.
Following yet another attack on a member of the clergy in the UK, the national organisation, Churchwatch, has again spoken out about the danger ministers put themselves in just by the nature of their job.
The Current Problem
Ministers are the subject of attack for a number of reasons. As places of worship, churches should be open beyond normal office hours and should be accessible to all. This includes the best of society and the worst of society and in many ways edges towards the latter because of Christianity’s accepting nature. Jesus taught us to love one another and accept one another and the role of clergy should set an example in this practice.
Yet the clergy have come under the criminal spotlight more and more in recent years and have been the subject of muggings, beatings and even murder.
Why Ministers Are Being Victimised
Churchwatch, among others, accept that the attacks may be on the increase and in some cases are becoming more violent.
Despite this mirroring the national trend of crime (with crimes against the person and crimes involving violence on the up), ministers are seen as a soft target. With obvious strong religious beliefs, the notion is that they won’t fight back and the nature of their job is that they work alone and sometimes at anti-social hours, in the dark and in less affluent areas.
What Churchwatch Says
A recent study has highlighted the issues but appears to place a lot of the solutions at the feet of the ministers themselves:
“Clergy need to act early to prevent the situation from getting out of control…Preparing for the confrontation is probably the best way to ensure that clergy will not be injured. The preparation can include improving the physical security of the vicarage is vital, and attending a training course to improve their conflict management skills.”
They also say that senior clergy need to lead by example.
It’s Not Just the Role of the Clergy
While the study recognises “The fact that they are priests does not mean that they are immune from violence due to the lack of understanding of their role and the lack of respect from certain parts of society,” it surely ignores the role that non-clergy have to play in the safety of church workers.
The vigilance of the local community, the impact of local policing and the role of education in raising the profile of the church is vital to improving the safety of those who work there. While the clergy can go some way to helping themselves with basic common sense personal safety it’s important that, as with any other crime, everyone around is also involved in tackling these mindless thugs.
After all, Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan. Where are they when the church needs them?
