Abstract
Although anecdotal evidence suggests that crimes involving religious congregations are relatively common, data and research on congregations’ experiences with victimization, fears of victimization, and security preparations is sparse. This research note provides an overview of a new survey of over 1300 congregations that was focused on these issues. In addition to providing an introduction to the data, the note provides a descriptive overview of results with a particular focus on differences across religious traditions. Exterior vandalism is the most common crime experienced, with 19% of respondents reporting such an incident in the past year. Jewish and Muslim congregations report a higher rate of receiving threats and are more likely than respondents overall to report a perception that an experienced crime was hate-motivated. Jewish and Muslim congregations also report a higher level of fear of experiencing violent crimes and, overall, have adopted more security measures compared to respondents overall. The note concludes by outlining directions for future research expanding upon these initial patterns.
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Notes
Because religious boundaries overlap with ethnic, racial, and other social categories, congregations can serve as a target for a number of biases.
These were taken from InfoUSA’s codes for the following traditions: Adventist, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Brethren, Christian/Churches of Christ, Mennonite, Holiness, Independent Fundamentalist, Episcopal, and Evangelical Misc. Each of these tradition codes includes multiple specific denominations.
Probably the most notable religious tradition we did not sample was that of Catholicism. Our reasoning was two-fold. First, although Catholic adherents represent over 25% of the individual population, Catholic congregations only represent about 6% of the congregational population. Furthermore, we expected that the risks faced by Catholic congregations would parallel those found in some Protestant congregations (e.g., being large, located in an urban neighborhood, comprised of Hispanic members). As a result, we chose to focus our resources in generating as large enough of a Protestant core sample as possible.
These were taken from InfoUSA’s codes for the following denominations: Churches of God in Christ, African Methodist Episcopal Church, African Methodist Episcopal Zion, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, African Union Methodist Protestant, National Baptist Convention of America, National Baptist Convention-USA, Progressive National Baptist Convention, Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America, Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Reformed Zion Union Apostolic, Bible Way Church of Lord Jesus Christ, and Fire Baptized Holiness Church. Note that additional congregations from these denominations were also selected through the random sample of 5000 Protestant congregations.
The 2010 Religious Congregations and Membership Study (RCMS) estimated that there were over 2100 Muslim congregations in the United States (Grammich et al. 2012). So, the InfoUSA database is clearly not covering Muslim congregations fully. Unfortunately, the RCMS does not provide an actual list of congregational addresses and names that could be used for a survey.
There are obviously congregations that are primarily attended by sexual, racial, or ethnic minorities outside of the denominations identified here. However, identifying such individual congregations amongst otherwise non-minority denominations before the survey is fielded is not possible.
For example the 2008–2009 US Congregational Life Survey received 148 responses from 1330 invited congregations (11%). See http://thearda.com/Archive/Files/Descriptions/CLS08PR.asp.
We do not refer to this category as “white Protestant” simply because some of the congregations may not be predominantly white.
We do not utilize sampling or nonresponse weights to adjust the distribution of respondents back to the distribution found in the original sampling frame or to some national benchmark. Given that the original sampling frame itself did not include all religious groups and was not meant to represent some national congregational population, such weighting was less of a concern here. The primary goal of the sample structure was to increase the power to compare across certain key groups, which is the main goal in the analysis here. Still, it should be kept in mind when considering the overall estimates that these percentages represent the respondents and not necessarily the average congregation in the original sample frame or the average congregation in the US.
The other items asked about being pick-pocketed, being robbed or mugged, being sexually assaulted, being approached by panhandlers or street people, having a car stolen, having someone break into the congregation while someone is inside, and receiving harassing phone calls.
The full list was: (1) Alarm system on entry-door(s), (2) Motion detectors inside building, (3) Security camera(s), outside of building, (4) Security camera(s), inside of building, (5) Security camera(s), parking lot, (6) Installed additional lighting around exterior of building, (7) Installed additional lighting in parking lot, (8) Limited the number of entry points into parking lot, (9) Limited number of entry points into building, (10) Visitors must be buzzed into building, (11) Fence around exterior of property, (12) Gate at entry to parking lot, (13) Security guard(s), full-time, (14) Security guards, part-time (15) Security guard(s), special events only, (16) Person living on property of congregation, (17) Signs banning weapons on property, (18) Signs reminding people to lock cars.
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Acknowledgements
The author thanks Jeff Ulmer and Ezekiel Kaufman for their feedback and assistance with this research.
Funding
This research was made possible by support from the National Science Foundation (Awards #1349738 & #1349728).
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Scheitle, C.P. Religious Congregations’ Experiences with, Fears of, and Preparations for Crime: Results from a National Survey. Rev Relig Res 60, 95–113 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13644-017-0316-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13644-017-0316-3