A Brief Political Rant
22/12/12 05:39
I have friends and colleagues who believe that it is impossible to separate politics and religion. They point out that Jesus was constantly challenging the authority of political leaders and that one of the roles of religion is to challenge and question political power. There are plenty of preachers who use their pulpits to encourage people to political action in support of one cause or another. There are plenty of bloggers who use the Internet as a vehicle to convince people to agree with their point of view.
I have tended to take a slightly different approach. I have been honored and privileged to serve congregations that are not of one mind when it comes to political issues. We have people who vote in different ways, who envision different solutions to problems, and who are capable of arguing with each other. I have watched good people of faith come to different conclusions as to the best political solutions to problems.
I see Jesus as one who ministered to a wide variety of people, meeting each in the place where that person was. He didn’t inquire into the political positions of the sick people who were healed. He fed all of the 5,000 without regard to party affiliation. He probably could have become a leader in the Zealot political movement, but instead he simply lived his witness. He couldn’t and didn’t try to avoid the inevitable conflict with Roman authority. He was executed by order of a Roman governor. In his trial as well as in the rest of the living of his life, he placed little confidence in political authority. He simply answered to God and placed his trust in God.
So what is to follow is probably atypical of me. It is a brief political rant. Feel free to disagree. I’m not very practiced at politics and I have no desire for the life of a politician.
It nearly made me sick yesterday to listen to part of the press conference held by Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president of the National Rifle Association. I guess he was trying to participate in the national discussion about gun violence following the massacre of innocent school children at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Quite frankly, the man sounded frightening. He said the killings were the fault of the media, songwriters and singers and the people who listen to them. He blamed movie and TV scriptwriters and the people who watch their work. He even placed the advocates of gun control in the same category as video game makers and players. I’m no fan of video games and I think the media made a lot of mistakes in their coverage of the tragedy, but I can’t agree with Mr. LaPierre when he claims that everyone involved in the manufacture and sale of firearms is without blame.
I don’t buy his argument for more and more guns. Volunteer and professional firefighters, who risk their lives every day to protect our communities don’t need to have the job of thwarting assault by carrying guns. Neither do paramedics, security guards, veterans, or retired police officers. I can’t imagine asking the principals and teachers who care for our children to turn into an armed mob. “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” Mr. LaPierre said. I guess he never thought about the possibility of preventing the bad guy from having so many guns. I guess he thinks that unscrupulous and unlicensed dealers who sell guns to criminals are not a problem.
Maybe Mr. LaPierre likes the scenario that played out in Rural Pennsylvania yesterday better. A man, for reasons unknown, shot and killed Kenneth Lynn and his son-in-law William Rhodes. Then the gunman went to the Junita Valley Gospel Church, where he entered the building and shot and killed Kimberly Scott. He got back in his truck and was driving when the state police caught up with him. He was killed in the ensuing gun battle. The gunman died, but not before three Pennsylvania State Troopers were injured by gunfire.
Australia used to have a huge problem with gun violence and mass shootings. The 1984 Milperra massacre was the outgrowth of conflicts between motorcycle gangs. In 1987 the Hoddie Street Massacre and the Queen Street Massacre took place in Melbourne. In 1991 the Strathfield massacre took place in New South Wales. And in 1996, 35 people were killed and 21 wounded when a man with a history of violent and erratic behavior opened fire on shop owners and tourists at the historic Port Arthur former convict prison.
The people of Australia banned together and got their legislators to reform gun laws in their nation. The restricted some weapons. They classified others into categories with rules about who could buy and sell the guns. The required those who use guns to state how they will be used. Sport shooters still have access to all except machine guns, rocket launchers, assault rifles, flame throwers, anti tank guns, howitzers and artillery. Private collectors can possess those items, but they must be deactivated if owned by anyone other than the military.
Port Arthur was the end of mass killings in Australia. That was 16 years ago. There was an incident in 2002 at Monash University where an international student killed two fellow students with pistols he acquired as a member of a shooting club. Today a person is 15 times more likely to die of gun violence in the United States than in Australia. The people of Australia are a freedom-loving people. They are independent and wouldn’t allow the government to oppress them any more than would the people of the United States. The laws of Australia weren’t imposed by the enemies of freedom. They were the result of Australian citizens working together to build a society that was safe for all of the people.
Australia is not a perfect society. The people of Australia have many problems to solve and their government doesn’t always act in the best interests of its people. I am privileged to live in the United States and have no desire for our country to imitate another country. But we do have the power to make changes for the betterment of our people. We do have the ability to protect our children.
On my way home last evening I followed a vehicle with a pro-life bumper sticker and a sticker proclaiming membership in the NRA. I wonder if there is an internal argument going on in the mind of the person who placed those stickers. I’d like to see a respectful public debate in our community.
In the meantime, we have a sanctuary on a hill in our town. We don’t allow any weapons in our building. And we are installing new glass doors next week at the preschool entrance, replacing steel doors that have been in place for more than half a century. We won’t be hiring armed guards.
I have tended to take a slightly different approach. I have been honored and privileged to serve congregations that are not of one mind when it comes to political issues. We have people who vote in different ways, who envision different solutions to problems, and who are capable of arguing with each other. I have watched good people of faith come to different conclusions as to the best political solutions to problems.
I see Jesus as one who ministered to a wide variety of people, meeting each in the place where that person was. He didn’t inquire into the political positions of the sick people who were healed. He fed all of the 5,000 without regard to party affiliation. He probably could have become a leader in the Zealot political movement, but instead he simply lived his witness. He couldn’t and didn’t try to avoid the inevitable conflict with Roman authority. He was executed by order of a Roman governor. In his trial as well as in the rest of the living of his life, he placed little confidence in political authority. He simply answered to God and placed his trust in God.
So what is to follow is probably atypical of me. It is a brief political rant. Feel free to disagree. I’m not very practiced at politics and I have no desire for the life of a politician.
It nearly made me sick yesterday to listen to part of the press conference held by Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president of the National Rifle Association. I guess he was trying to participate in the national discussion about gun violence following the massacre of innocent school children at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Quite frankly, the man sounded frightening. He said the killings were the fault of the media, songwriters and singers and the people who listen to them. He blamed movie and TV scriptwriters and the people who watch their work. He even placed the advocates of gun control in the same category as video game makers and players. I’m no fan of video games and I think the media made a lot of mistakes in their coverage of the tragedy, but I can’t agree with Mr. LaPierre when he claims that everyone involved in the manufacture and sale of firearms is without blame.
I don’t buy his argument for more and more guns. Volunteer and professional firefighters, who risk their lives every day to protect our communities don’t need to have the job of thwarting assault by carrying guns. Neither do paramedics, security guards, veterans, or retired police officers. I can’t imagine asking the principals and teachers who care for our children to turn into an armed mob. “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” Mr. LaPierre said. I guess he never thought about the possibility of preventing the bad guy from having so many guns. I guess he thinks that unscrupulous and unlicensed dealers who sell guns to criminals are not a problem.
Maybe Mr. LaPierre likes the scenario that played out in Rural Pennsylvania yesterday better. A man, for reasons unknown, shot and killed Kenneth Lynn and his son-in-law William Rhodes. Then the gunman went to the Junita Valley Gospel Church, where he entered the building and shot and killed Kimberly Scott. He got back in his truck and was driving when the state police caught up with him. He was killed in the ensuing gun battle. The gunman died, but not before three Pennsylvania State Troopers were injured by gunfire.
Australia used to have a huge problem with gun violence and mass shootings. The 1984 Milperra massacre was the outgrowth of conflicts between motorcycle gangs. In 1987 the Hoddie Street Massacre and the Queen Street Massacre took place in Melbourne. In 1991 the Strathfield massacre took place in New South Wales. And in 1996, 35 people were killed and 21 wounded when a man with a history of violent and erratic behavior opened fire on shop owners and tourists at the historic Port Arthur former convict prison.
The people of Australia banned together and got their legislators to reform gun laws in their nation. The restricted some weapons. They classified others into categories with rules about who could buy and sell the guns. The required those who use guns to state how they will be used. Sport shooters still have access to all except machine guns, rocket launchers, assault rifles, flame throwers, anti tank guns, howitzers and artillery. Private collectors can possess those items, but they must be deactivated if owned by anyone other than the military.
Port Arthur was the end of mass killings in Australia. That was 16 years ago. There was an incident in 2002 at Monash University where an international student killed two fellow students with pistols he acquired as a member of a shooting club. Today a person is 15 times more likely to die of gun violence in the United States than in Australia. The people of Australia are a freedom-loving people. They are independent and wouldn’t allow the government to oppress them any more than would the people of the United States. The laws of Australia weren’t imposed by the enemies of freedom. They were the result of Australian citizens working together to build a society that was safe for all of the people.
Australia is not a perfect society. The people of Australia have many problems to solve and their government doesn’t always act in the best interests of its people. I am privileged to live in the United States and have no desire for our country to imitate another country. But we do have the power to make changes for the betterment of our people. We do have the ability to protect our children.
On my way home last evening I followed a vehicle with a pro-life bumper sticker and a sticker proclaiming membership in the NRA. I wonder if there is an internal argument going on in the mind of the person who placed those stickers. I’d like to see a respectful public debate in our community.
In the meantime, we have a sanctuary on a hill in our town. We don’t allow any weapons in our building. And we are installing new glass doors next week at the preschool entrance, replacing steel doors that have been in place for more than half a century. We won’t be hiring armed guards.