The agitators outside blocked parishioners, shouting epithets. The pastor had to shield his four children as the mob yelled, “f—k you” and “Nazi!” at them.
Police stood by and watched—the crowd was, after all, on a public sidewalk, they said—as the mob closed in on men, women and children. Ultimately, it was the prolonged struggle to exit, along with desperate pleas from worshippers, that prompted officers to clear a narrow path for them to leave the church.
What happens when a place of sanctuary becomes a place of peril? People stay away.
Emboldened, that September 2025, the same group blocked entrances and blared ear-splitting sirens for three hours at a second interfaith service in San Diego County. They pounded on worshippers’ cars, shouted “baby killer,” shoved a Jewish attendee into a busy street and refused to leave even after police arrived.
For worshippers, the result is a stark and all-too-familiar dilemma: practice their faith or keep their children safe. The consequences extend far beyond a single religion. Across the country:
Since 2020, there have been at least 410 acts of arson and vandalism at Catholic churches.
California Churches of Scientology have faced roughly 100 swatting incidents—false emergency calls that trigger police responses—along with videoed harassment of parishioners entering and leaving Church facilities.
Directly following bigot Leah Remini’s inflammatory remarks against the religion, a fifth Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall in Washington state suffered an arson attack. That same year, another hall was struck by 35 rounds of rifle fire.
Twenty-nine percent of Muslims say they fear for their personal safety.
Over half of American Jews say they, too, feel in danger.
What happens when a place of sanctuary becomes a place of peril? People stay away.
After the March interfaith service horror, more than 100 of the 480 people who had registered for another Alliance interfaith worship event turned around upon seeing the mob blocking cars from entering the church.
Rather than risk worshippers’ safety, the Christian and Jewish Alliance has suspended services—but says it cannot, in good conscience, continue limiting its members’ religious practice.
In November, the Mission Church and the Alliance filed a lawsuit against the mob organizers, citing the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which protects places of worship and individual worshippers from threats and acts of hostility. On March 23, attorneys filed a motion for preliminary injunction seeking protection from hostile agitators.
“No one should fear gathering to pray,” says California State Senator Shannon Grove, who is sponsoring a bill that would classify such disruptions of religious services as potential felonies.
Mob rule and religious freedom cannot coexist.
Houses of worship must remain our sanctuaries, not sites of intimidation and fear.
