Communities in Faith
The SOAR programme has a key central interfaith focus at its core, working together with faiths and places of worship from every denomination and groups across Europe.
We are seeing a growing threat against all faiths and institutions in Europe, this only strengthens the need and mission for community groups and faiths to come together and ensure sacred places of worship and faith communities are protected and safeguarded from any harm.
The SOAR programme will encourage and bring together various faith leaders/groups for training events & workshops, sharing best practices related to protective security, encouraging communities to work together to tackle a shared, common threat.
Communities in Faith
The SOAR programme has a key central interfaith focus at its core, working together with faiths and places of worship from every denomination and groups across Europe.
We are seeing a growing threat against all faiths and institutions in Europe, this only strengthens the need and mission for community groups and faiths to come together and ensure sacred places of worship and faith communities are protected and safeguarded from any harm.
The SOAR programme will encourage and bring together various faith leaders/groups for training events & workshops, sharing best practices related to protective security, encouraging communities to work together to tackle a shared, common threat.
Working Together
A key focus on the SOAR programme is working at local, regional and national levels to deliver our training events for faith leaders and members of faith institutions across our 7 pilot countries in Europe.
We will be bringing together faith leaders from different denominations, institutions and backgrounds, aiming to equip them with the training and support to key their institutions and congregations safe against harmful acts of hatred.
Types of Places of Worship
What types of Places of Worship can be involved in the SOAR programme?
All places of worship, faith leaders and institutions can and will be involved in the programme. With a key interfaith focus in the project, we will ensure that places of worship of different sizes across Europe will be engaged to ensure our training is delivered far and wide, ensuring all faith based establishments have the right training and good practices to keep themselves safe and secure.
A document of the different types of Places of Worship that will engaged throughout the programme will be released shortly, but they will include; Mosques, Churches, Synagogues, Temples, Gurdwaras & Education / Supplementary Schools.
Architects
Architects are one of the key actors in the process of applying Security By Design measures. Architects play an important role in embedding innovative architectural and artistic interior & exterior designs into the security measures. To achieve the integration of SBD in public spaces, architects often come together and collaborate with security advisers, technological experts, and government actors, during all phases of the planning, design and delivery process of SBD.
This is why Architects feature as an integral part of the SOAR Project. They support Security Risk Assessments of Places of Worship across Europe and actively participate in SOAR’s EU-level Network Dialogues on Security by Design.
The recent, unfortunate spate of attacks on European soil have served as a sharp reminder that terrorism remains a real and present danger.
The new EU Counter-Terrorism Agenda brings together existing and new strands of work in a joined-up approach to combatting
terrorism. This approach will be brought forward in coordination with the Member States, while working with the European Parliament and the Council, and also by engaging society as a whole: citizens, communities, faith groups & civil society.
The below is a breakdown of the series of actions that will take place at a local, national & EU level.
Working to be able to better anticipate existing and emerging threats in Europe.
Information sharing and a culture of cooperation that is multi-disciplinary and multi-level
remain key for a solid threat assessment that can form the basis of a future-proof counterterrorism policy.
[Information taken from European Commission]
Working to prevent attacks from occurring, by addressing and better
countering radicalisation and extremist ideologies before they take root.
This Agenda sets out ways of supporting local actors and building more resilient
communities as a matter of priority.
[Information taken from European Commission]
A focus to protect Europeans, we need to continue to reduce vulnerabilities, be it in
public spaces, places of worship or for the critical infrastructures that are essential for the functioning of our
societies and economy.
The need to respond to attacks when they do occur, making the most of the
operational support EU Agencies, such as Europol and Eurojust, can provide, as well as
ensure we have the right legal framework to bring perpetrators to justice and to guarantee that
victims get the support and protection they need.
An important aspect of public spaces and places of worship having their own respond infrastructures in place.
The recent, unfortunate spate of attacks on European soil have served as a sharp reminder that terrorism remains a real and present danger.
The new EU Counter-Terrorism Agenda brings together existing and new strands of work in a joined-up approach to combatting
terrorism. This approach will be brought forward in coordination with the Member States, while working with the European Parliament and the Council, and also by engaging society as a whole: citizens, communities, faith groups & civil society.
The below is a breakdown of the series of actions that will take place at a local, national & EU level.
Working to be able to better anticipate existing and emerging threats in Europe.
Information sharing and a culture of cooperation that is multi-disciplinary and multi-level
remain key for a solid threat assessment that can form the basis of a future-proof counterterrorism policy.
[Information taken from European Commission]
Working to prevent attacks from occurring, by addressing and better
countering radicalisation and extremist ideologies before they take root.
This Agenda sets out ways of supporting local actors and building more resilient
communities as a matter of priority.
[Information taken from European Commission]
A focus to protect Europeans, we need to continue to reduce vulnerabilities, be it in
public spaces, places of worship or for the critical infrastructures that are essential for the functioning of our
societies and economy.
The need to respond to attacks when they do occur, making the most of the
operational support EU Agencies, such as Europol and Eurojust, can provide, as well as
ensure we have the right legal framework to bring perpetrators to justice and to guarantee that
victims get the support and protection they need.
An important aspect of public spaces and places of worship having their own respond infrastructures in place.
Freedom of religion is an integral part of European values and attacks on places of worship are attacks on our societies and our values. Protecting the communities and places of worship in Europe is protecting our way of life.
Freedom of religion is an integral part of European values and attacks on places of worship are attacks on our societies and our values. Protecting the communities and places of worship in Europe is protecting our way of life.