The Politics of Guns and God

The above is taken from a current campaign ad for a candidate for a Congressional office. The picture captures the gun carrying candidate with the slogan that “he is willing to do whatever it takes to return this country back to its glory days”. The same news story that showed this ad also covered campaigns with similar provocative slogans like: “Babies, Borders & Bullets”; “Jesus, Guns & Babies”; and “Pro God, Pro Guns, Pro Trump”. This news story is similar to others recently appearing in various news outlets covering an apparent rise in “Christian nationalism” in some political campaigns. The general belief of Christian nationalism is that God has destined America for a special role in history and that it will receive divine blessing or judgement depending on its obedience, similar to that of the nation of Israel. It has been reported that scriptural references are often blended into campaign stump speeches like: “Let’s choose this day to serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15) and “God uses the foolish to confound the wise”(1 Corinthians 1:27) with assurances that freedoms will be snatched away if the audience votes for the candidate’s opponent. (Reported by Associated Press, “Christian nationalism on the rise in some GOP campaigns” by Peter Smith & Deepa Bharath, May 30,2022). The not-so-subtle message of this blending of faith and politics is to imply God favors one political party over the other.

I understand how the sport of shooting can be a part of one’s heritage and be a source of recreation in God’s creation of nature. I can appreciate the skill required to master the ability to accurately shoot a powerful weapon over some distance. My ability to consistently miss the target I was required to hit as part of my ROTC training convinced me I had no ability to do that and subsequently no interest in pursuing any sport that involved shooting. Owning a gun for personal protection or protection of my family has never been a consideration probably as the result of having an almost fatal gun accident as a young child. My older cousin and brother were looking at my uncle’s German luger, a souvenir from WWII that he kept in his bedroom dresser drawer. To our surprise the weapon discharged, sending a round through the ceiling and causing a stampede of adults running up the stairs screaming in alarm! Only by God’s grace was nobody hurt. That experience prejudiced my view of guns and removed permanently any desire to have one around. But that is not the case for over 300 million Americans who own almost 400 million guns. With approximately 7 billion people in this world, that means Americans own approximately 50% of the world’s civilian guns with only a small fraction of the world’s population. (You can do the math.) That is a lot of guns! So, I can understand how owning a gun can take on a zeal like a religion to some. But what I can’t understand is how some can relate gun ownership to the Christian faith. To me that is the equivalent of saying “God, Golf, Birdies” as a campaign slogan. Relating God and my preferred choice of sport makes about as much sense to me as relating God or Jesus or any other aspect of faith to gun ownership. Let me explain.

The above picture lists the number of mass shootings that have occurred this last week. It seems like the vacation from gun violence in our country due to the pandemic is over and reoccurring at an alarming rate. In order to curtail this type of gun violence gun advocates must be willing to give up some of their gun liberties for the sake of the greater good. If not, then please do not associate gun ownership with the Christian faith. I believe the concept of sacrificing one’s individual rights is at the foundation of the Christian faith.  It is not a concept that was recently invented or discovered for some anti-gun campaign. It is found at the core of the Christian faith. “For the death He died to sin, once for all…” (Romans 6:10) referring to the sacrifice of Christ for all.  I would suggest that inherent in the Christian faith is the concept of one sacrificing for the sake of the greater good.  I believe it is a spiritual dynamic baked into the DNA of that intersection of the natural with the supernatural where faith is birthed in us.  It is part of the package that comes along with the other attributes like grace, humility, and love for one another.  A concern for others is the natural offspring of this supernatural intersection.  It is the reason one’s life is changed to service of others, a concern for the greater good, a passion to effect changes in other lives all because of such an intersection of the natural with the supernatural called faith. 

I believe the constitution with all of its articles and amendments are designed to protect the greater good, including the second amendment. This concern for the greater good is included in the preamble of the document setting the tone for all that follows. “We the people ….. insure domestic tranquility ….. promote the general welfare ….. secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves …” are all included as objectives of the document. In other words, all articles and amendments that follow these introductory words are intended to ensure domestic tranquility, promoting the general welfare of all, and securing the liberty for all the people governed by our constitution. I assure you the people in the cities listed in the above chart feel as though all of these objectives have been grossly missed. There is no tranquility in homes in which children have been murdered while attending school. I am sure all these families feel their general welfare and their liberty to send their children to school, to shop in a grocery store or to just conduct life in normal way has been violated because many Americans elect officials and do not require them to provide laws that ensure these objectives of our constitution. Instead, many of us prefer to incorrectly define the second amendment in a way that defines our personal liberties as more important than the greater good for our nation.

To continue in this fashion in our country we must compromise the true intent of our constitution and ignore the foundational tenet of our Christian faith. That is understandable if one claims no knowledge of God and faith. If so, I would recommend finding any verion of a bible and turn to Mathew 19:14 and you will read Jesus’ words “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” That is the value of children in terms of the kingdom where God rules is paramount. In other words, the environment in which God dwells embraces all the attributes of children – purity, innocence, kindness, easy to get along with others, loving, and devoted to the ones that love them. Then check the list of children implicated in mass shootings. If that does not sober ones thinking and change attitudes toward some of our political priorities, then drop all references to God, faith, and Jesus in our political rhetoric. Or else one can chose to continue with the hypocrisy knowing that such violence and general threat to the wellbeing of so many in our country will continue unabated. Gun rights advocates should take that fact with them as they attend church next Sunday.