Ken Pagano, the pastor of the New Bethel Church in Louisville, KY, has invited worshipers to attend services at his Assembly of God congregation armed. (Katherine Q. Seelye, “Pastor Invites Flock to Bring Their Guns to Church,” New York Times, June 27, 2009)
That invitation contradicts one of my fundamental beliefs about sacred space. Sacred space is a place of life and peace. The very concept of an armed congregation violates that principle. Worshipers attend armed not to show off their collection of weapons, not to hunt for food, but prepared to kill intruders who intend to do harm.
The U.S. armed forces have long recognized the inappropriateness of weapons in sacred spaces. Worshippers deposit their weapons, even symbolic swords, at the door before entering a Chapel. Obviously, the policy allows for exceptions when in harm’s way.
The prohibition against weapons in sacred spaces is ancient, dating back to the first Christians who believed that Jesus was the Prince of Peace and chose the way of the cross instead of the way of the sword. Modern violators of this ancient prohibition, such as Pastor Pagano, demonstrate either their ignorance or lack of respect for the Christian tradition, or both.
Some twenty states allow guns in sacred space. Clergy and lay leaders should strongly and unambiguously emphasize that bringing weapons into sacred space, a place of life and peace, is wrong and unacceptable.
4 comments:
Someone obviously forgot to tell Terry Joe Sedlacek, Jim Adkisson, Matthew Murray and others that "... bringing weapons into sacred space, a place of life and peace, is wrong and unacceptable." All three of the men I mentioned murdered their victims inside churces.
Murray was stopped by armed parishoner Jeanne Assam at New Life Church in Colorado Springs when he showed up there after murdering two people at a missionary center associated with that church.
Violence can happen anywhere and there is not some sort of magical boundary around a church's graounds that will keep it away.
I agree. Violence can happen anywhere. Nonetheless, life is not risk free. One of those risks involves honoring the sacred space of a church or other place of worship as a place of peace. If some choose not to accept that risk, to avoid entering sacred space because they feel insecure unarmed, that is their sad choice.
I thought this video was an interesting alternative perspective on gun rights and governement control, although it does not address religiousity or sacred space.
http://libertytubetv.blip.tv/
It seems to me as though this church pastor is the embodiment of "Americans clinging to their religion and their guns." but do americans have a right to gun ownership? and are gun ownership, fundamentalism, and violence always intertwined-or is this the result of one moral and ideological framework posited against another?
I think, Jaclyn, you hit the nail on the head when you observe the intertwining of gun ownership, violence, and fundamentalism. By no means are the three synonymous; indeed, some Christian fundamentalists are adamantly opposed to gun ownership and violence in all form, believing them incompatible with Jesus’ example and ethic.
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