By Jim Skillington
It's Saturday night, the sermon is prepared, the bulletin is printed and in the narthex. The pastor is about to go to sleep for the night when a parishioner calls and asks if she has heard about the shooting at the local shopping center.
Village Life Company researchers explored how faith organizations reacted when public violence occurred. The study suggested four key findings suggesting there is "a critical need to train local religious leaders" how to respond to public violence.
By Susan Kim, Assisted by Julie Sabatier
A string of methodical killings over a 100-mile area in October 2002 terrorized the
greater Washington, D.C. area. This qualitative case study found the snipers made more people feel vulnerable that the 9-11 terrorist attacks as more than half of Washington area residents said they were fearful. Moral leadership defaulted to public officials instead of religious leaders.
This qualitative report was commissioned by the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster. Many of the recommendations incorporated into this report were subsequently adopted by the members of the Washington, DC, VOAD.
