Guns don’t belong in churches

The Bible sitting on Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant’s desk Friday had a holstered gun sitting on top of it while he signed a law allowing guns in churches, a law he said would help protect worshippers from potential attackers.

Guns don’t belong in churches.

Yes, that’s easy for us to say here in a small town in northern Idaho where there’s seldom any violence at all.

Churches, mosques, tabernacles and meetinghouses are places where one goes to learn about, worship and serve God.

Guns aren’t involved in any of those activities.

“Oh, but if the bad guys know that, they will see churches, and the others, as easy targets,” say supporters of the Mississippi law and other laws that put guns in more hands in more places. Only by putting guns in the hands of the good guys can we stop the bad guys, they argue.

That doesn’t seem to be working too well, so far, in America, one of the more armed and violent countries. Too often, the good guys end up killing themselves, their friends or their relatives with those weapons.

The Christian New Testament would argue that countering violence with violence is exactly the wrong way to end it, exhorting believers to turn the other cheek, and to love their enemies.

Most people can grasp the argument that the more guns there are in the hands of people inexperienced with handling them in a crisis the more everyone around them stands to suffer if their inexperience causes them to panic.

You may not agree, but you can understand the argument.

This story was originally published April 21, 2016 at 9:18 PM with the headline "Guns don’t belong in churches."