In the US, many Jewish centers heightened security in the wake of the fatal shootings at two Jewish facilities in Kansas last Sunday. A former Ku Klux Klan leader with well-known anti-Semitic views killed three people in his shooting spree. The three victims were all Christians. Frazier Glenn Miller was charged with murder, and the Justice Department is investigating the incident as a possible hate crime. Religious groups strongly condemned what many called this “senseless act of violence.” Participants at an interfaith memorial service Thursday urged new unity in the wake of the tragedy.

President Obama denounced the shootings at his annual Easter prayer breakfast for Christian leaders, which was held at the White House on Monday (April 14):

President Obama: “We’ve got to stand united against this kind of terrible violence, which has no place in our society, and we have to keep coming together across faiths to combat the ignorance and intolerance, including anti-Semitism, that can lead to hatred and to violence, because we’re all children of God.”

This week, the president also hosted a Passover Seder at the White House for staffers, family, and friends. And on Tuesday (April 15), he met with a small group of religious leaders in the Oval Office to discuss new strategies to push for passage of comprehensive immigration reform which has been stalled in Congress.