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Lds Buildings Terrorist Risk?

LOW TERROR RISK FOR CHURCH BUILDINGS
See. here

PROVO, Utah - Some Utahns may worry that international terrorists
could someday strike Utah, but Brigham Young University, Church
headquarters, and Church chapels across the state are apparently not
a target, said Gregory Dunn, the managing director of security for the
Church. Dunn said Church buildings in other countries are surprisingly
just as safe as they are in Utah. "It turns out the Church just isn't really
that well known in the places where the risk is greatest," he said. "The
Church carries a lot of anonymity in many places of the world."

Risk Terrorist Buildings Lds

I have never thought of LDS buildings being at risk save for those countries in which the population views the Church as being specifically 'American'.

Lds Buildings Terrorist Risk? Studies Doctrine Mormon

We lived in Germany when the disco was bombed in Berlin. The Wing Commander at my base participated in the bombing of Tripoli in response to it.

That weekend, I participated in roaming the parking lot at church to make sure that there were no suspicious cars in the lot, or that nobody left a car there and walked away into the community.

Of course, we were an American congregation, among a high density of American population located in Germany. In fact the RAF (Red Army Faction) was headquartered in a small town about 10 miles from our home. We lived less than 20 miles from Ramstein AB, which was a target of terrorist bombings in the late 1970's - early 80's.

I think that you would find that in many places, the Church is viewed as primarily an 'American' organization. Especially in Russia, the Baltics, etc, it is really identified with the US. If there are ever any congregations established in any Muslim countries such as Egypt, Iraq, or Syria, you would really see the objections focus on the 'American' roots of the church.

In fact, when the Church was working on opening the BYU center in Jerusalem, anti-Mormon forces led by Ed Decker were particularly annoying in their attempts to scare the Jews into believing that it was an 'imperialistic' movement by Mormons to cause Jewish conversion to the 'American non-Christian' religion.

All of these things add up to the idea that I believe that Church building WILL be terrorist risks at times.

Risk Terrorist Buildings Lds

I agree with you 100%. I hope the Church can really see the seriousness of this, it is VERY possible that our Church buildings could be use for such purposes.
In Argentina, in the earlies 80's when the Falkland Islands war was going on, the Church and the missionaries had an EXTREMELY tough time in all the sense of the word. Years later, missionaries have been also target of kidnapping and other serious crimes. Argentina also had two terrorist attacks that killed hundreds of people in the 90's, one in the Israelite Embassy in Buenos Aires and the other one in the AMIA (Israelite-Argentine Mutual Association), the last one perpetred by the group Hezbollah. So I do think the Church buildings and the Church in general could be a strong target in those countries where the national security system is weak.