This never occurred to me when I wrote about the gun
worshippers out there that value their firearms over life itself. These are the die-hard fanatics that refuse
to negotiate at all over even the smallest new gun control laws. Fanatics like Wayne LaPierre who heads up the
National Rifle Assn. (NRA), this country’s major obstacle to enacting sane,
reasonable gun control legislation. But
Rabbi David Saperstein said on CNN, “The religious community is capable of ‘mobilizing
people to be a political force that we have done on issues of conscience since
the beginning of this country.’”
The bells of the Washington National Cathedral rang 28 times
recently to honor the 28 dead in the Newtown, CT shooting. At the same time, wide spectrums of religious
leaders were asking their congregations, President Obama and congressional leaders
to do something about the gun violence that has overtaken the country. Consisting of evangelicals, mainline Protestants,
Catholics, Jews, Islamists and Sikhs, they want the outlawing of assault
weapons and high capacity magazines, tightening the access on all guns and
improved mental health care. Who could
argue with this, except wacky Wayne?
Rev. Gary Hall, dean of the Washington National Cathedral,
said, “Everyone in this city {Washington} seems to be in terror of the gun
lobby. But I believe the gun lobby is no match for the cross lobby.” Rabbi Saperstein, primary organizer of the
event and director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism added in
quoting from Leviticus 19:16: “Do not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life
is threatened.” Then the Rabbi asked
himself a question and answered it.
“Is the need for sensible gun
control a religious issue? Indeed, it
is, for our worship of guns is a form of idolatry, the random distribution of
guns is offense against God, and the only appropriate response is sustained
moral outrage.”
What the religious right extremists
would have you believe
And as you might expect, the religious right extremists “have
found a new demon to slay: gun control,” reports the Sothern Poverty Law Center’s
Hatewatch. Quoting this group:
“It might seem odd that those who
profess allegiance to the teachings of Jesus Christ would be so vociferous
about making sure that Americans have continued, unfettered access to assault
rifles. But in the wake of the massacre of schoolchildren in Connecticut, which
ignited the most heated debate about gun control in this country in a decade,
some of the religious right’s most rabid voices are joining the fight.”
This clearly underscores my admonition that these gun nuts
love their guns more than the adults and children they kill. To Bryan Fischer, atty. for the American
Family Assn., Barack Obama is “blatantly disingenuous when he says he believes
in the Second Amendment.” Hatewatch also
reports that Fischer is the guy who claims:
“…that Adolf Hilter’s Nazi Party
relied on gay men because of their innate brutality, to turn {that} debate
straight on its face. Not only has he
banned the use of the words ‘assault rifles’ on his Focal Point radio show in
favor of ‘sporting rifles’ – and threatened to fine any member of his staff who
uses the wrong term – he has defined the debate on gun control as a thinly
veiled plot to target Christians.”