Religion

cbayer

(146,218 posts) Tue Jul 24, 2012, 05:43 PM Jul 2012

Is Gun Control A Religious Issue?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/23/is-gun-control-a-religious-issue_n_1696881.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

Religion News Service | By David Gibson
Posted: 07/23/2012 10:36 pm Updated: 07/23/2012 10:36 pm

(RNS) Of all the controversies that have followed in the bloody wake of Friday's (July 20) shooting rampage in Aurora, Colo., few have provided such a clarifying insight into the moral tensions and contradictions in American culture than the argument over whether gun control is a religious issue.

The Rev. James Martin, a popular author and Jesuit priest, was among the first to set out the terms of the debate, when he penned a column at America magazine arguing that gun control "is as much of a 'life issue' or a 'pro-life issue' ... as is abortion, euthanasia or the death penalty (all of which I am against), and programs that provide the poor with the same access to basic human needs as the wealthy."

Martin's central point was that abortion opponents spare no effort to try to shut down abortion clinics or to change laws to limit or ban abortions, so clearly believers should be committed to taking practical steps to restrict access to guns.

"Simply praying, 'God, never let this happen again' is insufficient for the person who believes that God gave us the intelligence to bring about lasting change," Martin wrote. "It would be as if one passed a homeless person and said to oneself, 'God, please help that poor man,' when all along you could have helped him yourself."

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9 replies

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Is Gun Control A Religious Issue? (Original Post) cbayer Jul 2012 OP

Oh shit, now you've done it. nt rrneck Jul 2012 #1

I know, but we've survived threads about circumcision and vaccines! cbayer Jul 2012 #2

It's quite difficult nowadays to find a firearm with horns and a tail. dimbear Jul 2012 #3

I'd say that gun control is a moral issue. backscatter712 Jul 2012 #4

Are issuing drivers licenses a religious issue? How many die in car accidents? LARED Jul 2012 #5

Wow, Lared, I agree with you 100%. cleanhippie Jul 2012 #9

My answer has to be yes BlueinOhio Jul 2012 #6

Plenty of right wing religious groups think Aurora is a religious issue muriel_volestrangler Jul 2012 #7

Maybe for some religions it is. jeepnstein Jul 2012 #8

rrneck

(17,671 posts)

1. Oh shit, now you've done it. nt

Reply to cbayer (Original post)

Tue Jul 24, 2012, 06:29 PM

Jul 2012

cbayer

(146,218 posts)

2. I know, but we've survived threads about circumcision and vaccines!

Reply to rrneck (Reply #1)

Tue Jul 24, 2012, 06:56 PM

Jul 2012

dimbear

(6,271 posts)

3. It's quite difficult nowadays to find a firearm with horns and a tail.

Reply to cbayer (Original post)

Tue Jul 24, 2012, 08:11 PM

Jul 2012

I think we're being subliminally influenced. Also I think one way to clarify personal theological doubts would be to put modern powder in that blunderbuss and fire it off.

Don't try this at home, kids.

backscatter712

(26,355 posts)

4. I'd say that gun control is a moral issue.

Reply to cbayer (Original post)

Tue Jul 24, 2012, 09:23 PM

Jul 2012

People could call it a religious issue, because so many people frame their morality in terms of religion, though as an atheist, I've moved away from that.

But I do call it a moral issue, as gun-related violence and incidents result in the deaths and injuries of thousands of people every year. Whether you're Sam Harris or Rick Warren, it's hard to argue that morality doesn't enter the argument when so many people are hurt and killed.

LARED

(11,735 posts)

5. Are issuing drivers licenses a religious issue? How many die in car accidents?

Reply to cbayer (Original post)

Tue Jul 24, 2012, 09:46 PM

Jul 2012

How about providing liquors licenses?

Or is selling ladders a religious issues; one of the number one devices that cause injury.

Seems to me the whole concept that gun control is a religious issue fails.

cleanhippie

(19,705 posts)

9. Wow, Lared, I agree with you 100%.

Reply to LARED (Reply #5)

Wed Jul 25, 2012, 11:37 AM

Jul 2012

BlueinOhio

(238 posts)

6. My answer has to be yes

Reply to cbayer (Original post)

Tue Jul 24, 2012, 10:27 PM

Jul 2012

There are lots of sects that do not believe in gun violence Quakers and Seventh Day Adventists come to mind. This was explored by Tolstoy in his book the Kingdom of God is Within. That book was read by Gandhi while he was a college student and they had some correspondence. If you get a chance you should look it up.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,322 posts)

7. Plenty of right wing religious groups think Aurora is a religious issue

Reply to cbayer (Original post)

Wed Jul 25, 2012, 09:58 AM

Jul 2012

As well as Huckabee:

Ultimately, We don’t have a crime problem or a gun problem – or even a violence problem. What we have is a sin problem. And since we ordered God out of our schools and communities, the military and public conversations, you know, we really shouldn’t act so surprised when all hell breaks loose.

and Gohmert:

"Some of us happen to believe that when our founders talked about guarding our virtue and freedom, that that was important," he said. "Whether it's John Adams saying our Constitution was made only for moral and religious people ... Ben Franklin, only a virtuous people are capable of freedom, as nations become corrupt and vicious they have more need of masters. We have been at war with the very pillars, the very foundation of this country."

"You know what really gets me, as a Christian, is to see the ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs, and then some senseless crazy act of a derelict takes place."

who are mentioned in that piece, we have evangelical minister Flip Benham blaming abortion, secularism and the DNC :

Twenty four years old and filled with the culture of death! When we sow bloodshed in the womb we will reap it in the streets. It is a law. It is God's Law. It is a law as certain as the physical law of gravity. It is a "spiritual gravity" that applies to all people at all places at all times. Whether or not you believe it, it applies. King Jesus is the only answer. The whole National Guard couldn't make James do what is right. He has become his own law, showing contempt for authority and doing what is right in his own eyes. He is the product of the Culture of Death that the DNC has embraced.
...
This is what has happened to our country when we remove God from the equation. We have stolen the fear of God from our children, Violence always fills the void. This is the spawn of the ideology of the Democratic Party and now we look at each other in awkward amazement, wondering "what in the world just happened?" The answer is we have stolen God from the hearts of our children.

Or is it a demonic stronghold in Colorado?

Jerry Newcombe of Truth in Action Ministries blames "civil libertarians" for making people unafraid of God.

The American Family Association blames Hollywood, the internets (sic), liberal bias in the media, and mainline churches tolerating homosexuality.

And so on. All via Slacktivist.

I bet none of them think gun control is a good idea, though.

jeepnstein

(2,631 posts)

8. Maybe for some religions it is.

Reply to cbayer (Original post)

Wed Jul 25, 2012, 10:44 AM

Jul 2012

I don't think you're going to find any scriptural basis for it in the Bible. There's tons of stuff in there about loving one's enemies, forgiveness, humility, service, and things like that but very little about gun control. I know the verse in Luke 22:36 but I'm not convinced that's an admonition to arm ones self. Oh, and Peter got chewed out for hacking off Malchus' ear so there's a lesson there as well. No, I just don't see the churches needing to get involved.

Now if a Christian feels passionately about social justice and helping build a better society then I think they should speak their mind. However I don't think they have any Biblical authority for their position in the gun control debate.

Christianity isn't a political movement. That's missing the point of it entirely. Which I do often.

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