“Why are we willing to live with this butchery?”
That was the question President Joe Biden asked, puzzled by the Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which killed 19 children and two adults.
Despite more than 200 mass shootings in 2022, gun reform remains a divisive issue in the United States, and an apparent impossibility in the current political climate.
The debate also has a religious dimension, although it is more complex than it may seem at first glance.
While white evangelical Protestants are some of the strongest advocates for gun rights, not all American religious feel the same way.
In fact, religious groups are at the forefront of both sides of the arms control debate, playing roles that observers describe as “both useful and harmful.”
U.S. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden attend Mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Uvalde, Texas, after the shooting. (Getty Images: AFP / Mandel Ngan)
A God-given right to bear arms
For some, gun ownership is tied to ideas of identity and personal freedom.
“White Protestants have relatively high gun ownership rates and also tend to be much more opposed to gun control than people from other religious groups,” said David Smith, an associate professor at the U.S. Center for Studies. .
Ownership of weapons is especially important to Christian nationalists, a group that fuses the Christian faith with civic and national identity.
Representing about 16% of the population, the most extreme supporters of this conservative movement are comfortable with the use of authoritarianism and violence to enforce social order, says Andrew Whitehead, an associate professor at the University of Indiana-Purdue University of Indianaapolis.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz’s comment after Uvalde’s shooting that “what stops the bad guys is the good guys” sums up a popular Christian nationalist position.
In a worldview where “violence is a fact,” Whitehead says, weapons are essential to protecting society.
This belief forms the basis of the argument proposed by some, such as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, to arm teachers and school administrators to prevent school shootings.
Christian nationalists see sin as the problem, not the weapons, Smith says.
“It’s the fact that people use them in a very sinful way and that in a world full of sin, you have to be prepared to defend yourself from wrongdoers.”
The sacred second amendment
Many Christian nationalists also believe that the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, including the Second Amendment, a document ratified in 1791 that protects the right to bear and bear arms, are documents of divine inspiration.
“They believe it was God’s will to make sure that every American had the right to bear arms and defend themselves if necessary or to keep a government, a federal government, under control,” Whitehead says.
He says that when asked what rights they want to protect more, Americans who embrace Christian nationalism are proposing the right to take up arms over other fundamental freedoms such as religious or press freedom.
Among Americans for whom faith, identity, and gun ownership are so closely tied, opposition to any form of gun control is a deeply ingrained value.
Many attribute the Republican Party’s unwillingness to support even popular “common sense” reforms, such as mental health checks, to the influence of the gun lobby, particularly the National Rifle Association (NRA). ), a group with close ties to Christian nationalism.
“While most Americans (Republicans and Democrats) may support stronger background checks or ban high-capacity magazines, it doesn’t matter because our elected officials, especially those in the Republican Party, are backed by large sums of money from the NRA, “says Whitehead.
As a result, he says, the NRA is “able to make sure that these elected officials make their offers instead of the offers of the American public.”
The role of religious groups in the arms debate
Not all religious groups in the United States identify with the culture of weapons.
Reflecting the fact that black Americans are the most common victims of armed violence, “black Protestant churches have been at the forefront of arms control movements in the United States,” Smith notes.
Armed violence directly affects many religious communities, which serve as places of mourning and support networks for victims.
Houses of worship, including churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples, have also been the target of numerous mass shootings.
Many religious organizations, such as the 67th Precinct Clergy Council in Brooklyn, the LIVE FREE campaign, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and the Bishops United Against Gun Violence Episcopal Coalition, are actively involved in reducing armed violence in the United States.
Prynce Brunner, 4, is wearing a photo of her mother, Mia Leíann Shane, tucked into her shirt during an anti-violence rally organized by Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children. (Getty Images: SOPA Images / LightRocket / Stephen Zenner)
In 2020, the Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund launched an Interfaith Advisory Council of 18 religious leaders to support “gun-wielding candidates” in the election.
Many religious groups are pushing for state and federal governments to enact gun reforms. Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence, an alliance of more than 50 religious groups, has called on the U.S. Congress to pass legislation banning military-style weapons and arms trafficking.
Some groups target retailers. In 2017, Mercy Investment Services, the investment arm of the Sisters of Mercy, successfully pushed Dick’s Sporting Goods to raise the minimum age to buy weapons at 21 and stop selling assault rifles.
Others set aside the political debate to engage directly with communities to reduce armed violence. Together Chicago deploys faith-based volunteers to work with law enforcement, pastors, and community leaders to connect with people at risk in the community through outreach and targeted family interventions.
“People are much more attentive”
The Asian American Christian Collaborative (AACP) is a Chicago-based coalition formed in 2020 in response to the rise in anti-Asian violence that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, a gunman attacked Asian women in a shooting in Georgia, Atlanta, killing eight people and wounding one. In 2022, a self-proclaimed white supremacist opened fire on a Taiwanese church in Laguna Woods, California, killing one and wounding five others.
AACP President and Co-Founder Pastor Raymond Chang believes the outbreak of armed violence is having a profound effect on communities.
“Children ask questions about whether they are safe to go to school,” he says.
People are wondering “if they should go to church on Sunday or to the mall … [they’re] much more vigilant as they navigate life in society. “
Chang says religious groups “play both a damaging and useful role in the arms debate.”
Basic gun reforms, such as mandatory background checks, have the majority support among Americans, including white evangelicals. Prohibitions on assault rifles, however, are more divisible.
“In many states in the United States, it’s easier to buy weapons than to buy beer … and you have to wonder why.
“Is it necessary for an average citizen to carry a military-grade rifle? If so, what is it? Is it simply because people should have the right to do whatever they want?”
Some groups, especially conservative white evangelicals, “see freedom and individual rights as the ultimate goal of life … to the point that they are willing to overlook much of the harm done by armed violence to preserve it. lo “.
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