've typically been someone who views the intersection of my faith and the laws of this nation as running on largely separate paths that do, on occasion, mingle. “Thou shall not kill,” for example, is a pretty universal sentiment, so there's no surprise that the lines cross there.
While I'm not someone who believes that one should partake of every delight imaginable, I don't feel it's my job to remove temptation from the world. Do the right thing because it's right, not because you don't want jail time for doing it.
Unfortunately, there are times when people of faith do seem to interject themselves into political questions, and I largely shrug at it. My views aren't everyone else's. The problem, though, is when they start trying to interfere with my basic civil liberties.
And unfortunately, it's not just people who profess faith who push for gun control, it's entire church organizations.
American culture has displayed opposing trends on this topic for years, even as crime had been falling from the record levels of the 1980s and early ‘90s. That decline briefly reversed during the combined craziness of the Covid scare and the George Floyd “Summer of Love,” then resumed its downward trajectory.
Nonetheless, it is now routine for churches and other houses of worship to post security teams to defend their flock. Even as individual congregations arm up, the largest Christian denominations in the country are among the loudest voices calling for stricter gun control laws. The United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church USA, the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, American Baptist Churches USA, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, all have official positions supporting gun control laws, as does the Union of Reformed Judaism, along with many smaller denominations and independent churches.
The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the US, has mostly steered away from any broad gun control advocacy. Several resolutions have been introduced, but none has passed, though there has been strong support from some quarters. The Presbyterian Church in America is more conservative than the PCUSA, and does not advocate for gun control. The non-denominational Churches of Christ are independent, but are very uniform in doctrine and practice. Those congregations generally either don’t take a position on guns or are supportive of individual rights. That fellowship includes the West Freeway Church of Christ, where Jack Wilson shot an attacker who had shot two church members. In the video of that horrific event, at least seven guns can be seen being drawn by congregants.
So where does your church stand? If you don’t know, you should find out.
If your local church leadership supports your rights, but the national organization doesn’t, are you and your local leaders actively pushing back against the national organization’s position? Are you actively working to educate your church leaders about the fallacy of gun control laws, and the doctrinal error of pacifism and disarmament?
Author Jeff Knox begins this piece with two particular quotes from the Bible, and I'm going to repeat them here, because they're important to the discussion.
He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. —Isaiah 2:4
He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one. —Luke 22:36
The church of old was not about pacifism. Some pacifists argued their religion forbade the shedding of blood or whatever, but most faiths had no issue with the idea of war or of killing, but primarily within certain contexts.
Murder is always wrong. Killing in self-defense or in defense of your family, tribe, or nation was something else.
The Bible is pretty specific about that. While Christ was very much about turning the other cheek, He was also about flipping the money changers' tables for doing business in the temple.
My journey into really believing isn't important here, but I will say that my first stop along that path was a Presbyterian church here in town. My grandmother attended, so I visited and found a place I felt like I belonged, for the most part.
That church, though, was a PCUSA church, and when they opened a ministry specifically to push gun control, I decided then and there that I had no more use for them.
While Knox asks if the local leadership is pushing back against the governing body, the one issue I have with that is that, at least with PCUSA, a percentage of your tithe goes to that governing body. That means at least a few cents of every dollar put in the collection plate ends up being used to undermine our rights.
Maybe it's just me, but that's too much to accept.
I haven't darkened the doorway of that church since, and I was probably too blind beforehand to recognize that the issues were there before.
When it comes to faith, this shouldn't be a thing. We shouldn't have to shop for churches just to make sure they respect the rights handed to us by God.
I'll never pretend to be a good Christian. I'm probably best described as “a good example of a bad example” in many ways when it comes to being a good Christian. However, I try.
Part of my understanding of what makes one a good Christian is my duty to take care of me, mine, and my community. To do that, we need arms to fight off the hordes.
If Christ Himself instructed those who followed him and had no sword, nor money for one, to “sell his cloak and buy one,” then no worldly authority is going to tell me I shouldn't.
