Tragedies in places of worship leave lasting impacts

Lately, there have been quite a few tragedies happening at places of worship within many religions. In the last month alone, there has been a bombing at a church in Sri Lanka, a shooting in a California synagogue and a fire at Notre Dame Cathedral. All of these incidents have been close together in time, one attack right after another.

The most well-known and the only accidental one of these incidents was the fire of the infamous Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, France. The cathedral was under construction when the fire started. According to CNN, it was reported that there were no workers on the sight during the fire. One of the many theories of what caused the fire was from an electrical issue (CBS.com). Another was started because there were cigarettes butts found around the outside of the cathedral (People.com). There are tons of different rumors and theories that locals have made on how exactly the fire started. However, fire officials of Paris, where the cathedral was located, have stated that the fire appeared to be purely accidental.

On Easter Sunday, three churches along with three hotels in Sri Lanka were attacked by suicide bombers. According to BBC news, 253 people were killed and 500 were wounded during these attacks. The bombings caused mass fear throughout the country.

There were bans put on social media throughout the entire country until recently (Nytimes.com). Bans were also put in place by the president of Sri Lanka outlawing face coverings due to the bombings. The Muslim community of Sri Lanka thought that the law was “the stupidest thing to do,” according to Hilmy Ahmed, vice-president of the Sri Lanka Muslim Council in an interview with PBC. Ahmed stated that Muslims of Sri Lanka already had volunteered to not wear their coverings for security measures, meaning they were already showing support and trying to protect not only themselves but make others feel safe. Many thought that even after they were already doing this, the new ban was unfair to this community (PBC.com).

Another incident that occurred was a deadly shooting at a San Diego synagogue. According to NPR, more than 100 people were in the synagogue at the time of the shooting. One person was killed and there was three were injured. The suspect is a 19-year-old man. The attack was investigated as a hate crime (NPR.com).

TThese events have left many nervous to attend their religious services. Most people see their churches, masses, and synagogue as a place that people can safely practice their religions, but these incidents have left people feeling uneasy. According to USA Today, Sri Lanka has closed its churches for the second week in a row due to fear of a second bombing. This just shows the effects that the incidents leave on these people.