Maryland's new Safe Worship Law officially took effect on October 1, making it a state crime to use force, threaten force, or physically block someone trying to practice their faith at a church, synagogue, mosque, or any other place of religious worship. The law arrives after a legislative session marked by interfaith testimony, unanimous votes, and growing anxiety among Maryland's religious communities about harassment and violence tied to their faith.
The statute, enacted through SB 177 and HB 750 (Chapters 424 and 425), makes it a misdemeanor to use force, threaten force, or physically obstruct someone lawfully exercising or attempting to exercise their religious beliefs, according to the Maryland General Assembly. A conviction carries up to 90 days in jail, a $1,000 fine, or both. Per the Baltimore Jewish Times, the law specifically covers disrupting, blocking, or threatening to block access to a religious observance, and Governor Wes Moore signed it back in May.
The bill passed unanimously, and Maryland now joins just two other states and New York City in having such a dedicated statute, the outlet reports. That unanimity reflects a coalition that cut across faiths: the Baltimore Jewish Council, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, and the Anti-Defamation League all advocated for the law, and roughly 40 clergy members came together in support, according to the same report.
Why State Lawmakers Felt Federal Law Wasn't Enough
Federal protection for worshippers already exists under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which criminalizes physical obstruction at places of worship nationwide. But as Delaware House Democrats explained in comparing similar legislative efforts, that federal statute left local state's attorneys and municipal police without a clear, dedicated state-level charge they could bring without relying on federal civil rights prosecutors. Maryland's new law fixes that gap by giving county prosecutors and local police direct jurisdiction to pursue misdemeanor charges on their own.
Lead sponsors Delegate Samuel I. Rosenberg and Senator Chris West built their coalition with formal testimony from interfaith groups including the Maryland Catholic Conference and the Jewish Federation of Annapolis & the Chesapeake, according to testimony filed with the Maryland General Assembly's Judiciary Committee. Lawmakers also weighed a companion measure, HB 1146, the Sacred Places Safety Act, which would have made any crime of violence committed inside a place of worship or medical facility a separate felony carrying up to 10 years in prison, according to BillTrack50.
A Spike in Antisemitic Incidents Fueled the Push
Maryland ranked ninth-highest nationally for total antisemitic incidents in the Anti-Defamation League's 2025 audit, per the Baltimore Jewish Times. Statewide, the ADL recorded 181 antisemitic incidents in Maryland during 2025 — a 49% decline from the record high of 356 incidents logged in 2024, but still a 285% surge compared with the 47 incidents documented in 2020, according to the Washington Jewish Week. Of those 181 incidents, 41 occurred directly at Jewish institutions, while non-Jewish K-12 schools accounted for 34% of the statewide total, Hoodline reported in its coverage of swastikas found at a Howard County elementary school.
Tali Cohen, the ADL's Washington, D.C., regional director, said the law does not curtail free speech but instead protects freedom of religion, per the Baltimore Jewish Times. She added that everyone has a right to exercise their faith, and that houses of worship are now off limits for aggressive protest activity that prevents people from practicing freely. The law criminalizes threats of violence intended to prevent religious worship and is meant to protect people across the religious spectrum, from worshippers at churches and synagogues to those at mosques.
Local Threats Underscored the Stakes
Concerns about violence targeting Maryland's faith communities intensified in February, when a Hanover man pleaded guilty in federal court after investigating local buildings and devising plans to shoot Jewish residents and supporters of Israel in Maryland, Hoodline reported at the time in its story on the Hanover ISIS plot guilty plea. That case added urgency to a legislative push already shaped by years of rising incident counts and institutional strain, including a 2025 binding resolution between Howard County Public Schools and the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights after federal investigators documented 28 antisemitic incidents across 16 district schools over two academic years.
Alongside the new criminal statute, the state has leaned on funding as a second line of defense. Governor Moore maintained $10 million in his Fiscal Year 2027 budget proposal for the Protecting Against Hate Crimes Grant Program, sustaining a level doubled from $5 million in Fiscal Year 2026 that funded physical security upgrades and guard personnel for 183 Maryland organizations, according to the Office of Governor Wes Moore.
Enforcement Still Needs Clarity, Advocates Say
Passing the law is only the first step, Cohen said, noting that law enforcement must be equipped and ready to enforce it. She said advocates are working directly with law enforcement to clarify the law's guardrails and to protect the Jewish community going forward, per the Baltimore Jewish Times. That work echoes broader civil rights concerns raised elsewhere about distinguishing peaceful protest outside religious facilities from unlawful physical obstruction or intimidation.
The Safe Worship Law also arrives amid a wider legislative effort to modernize how Maryland's code addresses faith communities. Lawmakers separately passed Senate Bill 93 this session to replace gendered and church-centric terms like “clergyman” and “churches” with inclusive language such as “member of the clergy” and “faith institutions” spanning Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, and Hindu traditions, according to LegiScan. Taken together, the measures reflect a state trying to answer years of rising hate incidents with both statutory muscle and the practical work of getting police departments ready to use it.
