I don’t remember how old I was when I registered to vote for the first time. I know it wasn’t on my 18th birthday. I think it was sometime in college. What I do remember about registering to vote is that the voter's registration form asked, Which party are you registering with? And I was stumped.
I knew which one I was supposed to mark. I was a Christian, after all. I grew up in a home and in a church that were as Republican as they were Christian. It was expected in my black and white world that if you were Christian, you were a Republican. Any alternative was un-thinkable.
But there were some things about the Republican Party that even then bothered me. Two things in particular: the death penalty, and guns. (Later, there would be more things.)
I have never understood Christian support for the death penalty. After all, one of the 10 Commandments specifically states, "Thou shall not kill." We like to pick on little things which are barely mentioned in Scripture, but then this big thing - a major commandment - we've decided is okay to ignore.
The death penalty doesn’t make any sense to me. It’s a way of giving up on people permanently. As though we've thrown in the towel and declared them unredeemable.
Now, it is true the Old Testament has many examples of entire groups of people being wiped out by God's order. But those were specific circumstances for that time and place. I don’t think there’s anything to suggest we are still living in Old Testament times! And I don’t think there’s anything to suggest God is telling us it's okay to kill.*
We don't see Jesus calling people unredeemable. He even gave grace to the thief on the cross. The thief's crimes must have been rather serious if he was hung on a cross, but Jesus forgave him instantly. Jesus had a reputation for hanging out with "sinners" - with people the religious considered unredeemable. Even though He was harsh on the religious, in particular on the Pharisees, I don't believe He saw them as unredeemable, either. I think He gave them a hard time partly because He thought they were redeemable. There were Pharisees among His disciples. And after His resurrection, He even redeemed the "worst Pharisee" of them all, a man we know as Paul the Apostle.
The death penalty is a surprising thing for the "pro-life" party to support. It's a surprising thing, to me, for Christians to support. And it goes hand in hand with the support of guns.
I can’t tell you how many good Christian people I’ve talked to who have gotten defensive about our right to bear arms, even if they personally have never held a gun in their life. So much so that one would think the phrase "right to bear arms" was from Scripture. The entanglement of the second amendment of the constitution with the Christian church is intriguing, and I’m sure ties back to the Republican Party's enmeshment with Christianity. (Not to mention the massive amounts of money from the NRA, who are a major influence within the Republican Party and therefore also has ties, at least indirectly, to the Church.)
What is it that makes Christians defend guns?
Let’s be very clear here. Guns are designed to kill. I know that some people are going to argue that guns are useful for hunting and killing animals for food. Although, nowadays, very few people in America are dependent upon killing animals in order to have food on the table. Hunting has become more of a sport or recreational activity. Even if you do eat what you kill, if you are also able to go grocery shopping and have money to buy food, then, really, you’re hunting for sport, not for your livelihood. But the majority of people who own guns aren’t hunting (animals, at least).
In fact, in this Pew survey, only 40% of gun owners say they use the guns for hunting. Only 5% say they have a gun because they use it for work. In the same study, they found that only 20% of Republicans but 81% of Democrats are in favor of stricter gun controls. In a study of people from different religions, white Evangelicals were the least likely to be in favor of gun reform.
Why? Why do Christians support regular citizens owning guns? And not just one or two, but several. There are 120 guns for every 100 people in the United States. It's not that everyone owns a gun, but rather that people who do tend to own more than one. About 35% of homes in the US have at least one gun. About 22 million children are raised with guns in the home.
Statistically, we know there are multiple secondhand risks to having a gun in the home. If you have a gun in your home, you are significantly more likely to be killed by an intruder. You are significantly more likely to be killed by an intimate partner. You are more likely to have a gun-related accident or injury. You are more likely have someone in your home commit suicide. You are more likely to kill someone.
If you have a gun, I have to assume that you are willing to kill someone. After all, why else would you have one?
What happens then to: Thou shall not kill?
Apparently, we’ve decided there are exceptions to the sixth commandment.
And what about mass shootings?
Mass shootings are a problem unique to the United States. No other developing country has mass shootings like we do. Coincidentally, all other developing countries have strict gun control laws. Funny how that works.
After every mass shooting, we say we wish there was something we could do. We send "thoughts and prayers." And yet, we do ... nothing. We continue to let people be slaughtered. Assault weapons are designed to kill quickly. And not just one person but multiple people all at once in one big burst. How in the world do we justify needing those types of weapons?
They're certainly not toys. We don’t live in a warzone.
Aside from the Christian objections to guns, I feel like the founders would object as well. The second amendment talks about a "well-regulated militia". Not about random individuals owning deadly weapons that the founders never could’ve even dreamed of.
According to Shane Claiborne, co-founder of Red-Letter Christians, 120 people die every day in the US due to gun violence. More kids die by guns than by car accidents or cancer. The number of losses to guns every day is similar to countries that actually are in active warzones.
And yet, there is nothing we can do??
In Claiborne's book, "Red-Letter Revolution", co-written with Tony Campolo, he writes: "This dual conviction that no one is above reproach and that no one is beyond redemption lies at the heart of our faith. Undoubtedly, it's why the early Christians were characterized by nonviolence, even in the face of brutal evil, torture, and execution. Of all people, we who follow the executed and risen Christ should be people who are pro-life, pro-grace, anti-death" (87).
There’s an amazing group called RAW tools associated with the Red-Letter Christians. They take donated guns, as well as bullet casings that they find and collect from the streets, and turn them into art. They take something that was meant for violence, and turn it into something meant for beauty. Their creations are impressive, but it’s the message that gets to me. The message that we don’t have to be people of violence. We can choose to live in peaceful communities.
A few years ago, I met a pastor from Nigeria. Nigeria is one of the worst countries in the world for Christians. There is a tremendous amount of persecution. Christians are tortured or murdered, churches and buses are bombed. The country has steadily reason up Open Door's Watch List of the top 50 countries where Christians face the most persecution - it's currently at #2. (If you were wondering, #1 is North Korea, and the US is nowhere on the list.)
The pastor had an astounding message. After he had received several death threats, there were some people in his church who wanted him to arm himself for protection. But he refused. He argued that if someone came to kill him, and they had a gun pointed at him, he would rather they kill him than he kill them. His reasoning was, "I know where I will go when I die. I do not know where they will go if they die. And I do not want to be the one to send them to hell. I want to give them every possible chance to come to know Jesus so they too can be saved."
I was rocked to the core. What a different message than that which we teach here in America! This was so completely opposite of "stand your ground" or personal freedom. This was loving your enemies to the fullest.
This African man from Nigeria, with his very dark skin, round face, and kind eyes, reminded me more of Jesus in that moment than perhaps anyone I had ever met before. I could imagine Jesus saying those very words.
After all, didn’t Jesus die in our place?
The disciple Peter wrote in his New Testament letter, "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promises, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (1 Peter 3:9).
Why can't we show that same patience to our "enemies"?
Maybe it’s time for us to reevaluate our stance on death and guns. Maybe it’s time for us to trust God a little more, trust our guns a little less, and build a safer society.
*If the violence of the Old Testament is something you struggle with, there are several good books on this:
"Cross Vision: How the Crucifixion of Jesus Makes Sense of Old Testament Violence" by Gregory A Boyd
"The Old Testament Case for Nonviolence" by Matthew Curtis Fleischer
"Show Them No Mercy" by Gundry, et al
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