A visitor weeps last November at a makeshift memorial outside the Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill where 11 people were killed by a gunman a few days earlier.

Before worshippers enter Butler's Congregation B'nai Abraham, they had to pass a security officer.

“I believe having a guard makes some people feel safe. For others, it almost ruins the worship experience for them,” said Cantor Michal Gray-Schaffer about the officer who once guarded the service and still guards the synagogue's religious school. “Before they get to come into a service, where hopefully you find fellowship but you find peace, that peace is gone when you have to go by a guard.”

A guard that may have been needed, according to recent statistics.

In 2017, U.S. faith-based organizations experienced a record 261 deadly force incidents, according to Carl Chinn, a church security consultant and author who has been tracking violence in all places of worship since 1999.

Nearly six months ago, 11 people were killed and six others were injured at the Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

That's when B'nai Abraham first got a guard.

Places of worship have prioritized and reexamined their security practices in the aftermath of tragedy.

Butler's First Church officials are conscious of the need to provide a safe place of worship, said Tom Holman, the Butler First Church board of trustees chairman.

Read the rest of this story in Thursday's print edition of the Butler Eagle or subsribe online.