Friday, June 26, 2009

Bang, Bang.....you're saved.

According to this NYT article, a church in Kentucky is having a "bring your gun to church" day, as a celebration of being American and having a 200+ year old antiquated right to carry a weapon. No really, that is what they are saying (well, minus the antiquated rights part - I added that myself). Viewing their webpage, you find this statement from the church/pastor/whomever:

"America was founded upon a deep-seated belief in God and the freedom to own and bear firearms without which this country would not be here today. We are not ashamed of this historical fact nor are we ashamed to proclaim it."

Now, I'm a Christ-follower. I attend a pretty awesome church. My kids just got back from mission trips to New Orleans and Galveston and made a small difference, but certainly more than I and many others have done. I appreciate what God has done for me, and accept that I still make mistakes, but He hasn't wiped me off this earth yet, so I still must be worth while.

What gets me is the statement "...to own and bear firearms without which this country would not be here today". I don't think they really understand the purpose of firearms back at that time, and the reason it is in the Constitution. See, when English settlers came to the land we know call the United States of America, there were some people already living on many parts of the land. Let's call them "native Americans", but they went by many different names: Sioux, Cherokee, Potowatomi, Navajo, Apache, Ojibwa....you get the idea. Well, the settlers really liked this land, and wanted more of it. You could ask, but I guess asking wasn't enough, or the tribes didn't give it away fast enough, or maybe the settlers liked certain property that was sacred. Whatever reason, they used their guns against the Indian tribes to take the land by force. If you have many, many years of quiet existence on the green earth, only to have these fair skinned folks come and murder innocent people to take away what you have respectfully resided on, I'm guessing you get angry. So the tribes fought back. The right to bear arms is in the Constitution to "protect" the people from the original land owners who were pretty (and rightfully) pissed off over their treatment and theft of their land. This country was founded on the inhuman treated of others at the end of a loaded barrel (it was also founded on the backs of African slaves, but that's for another post).

So to celebrate the heritage of this country when it's creation was based on the brutal murder of thousands of native Indian residents is not a very "Jesus" thing, if you ask me. I'm thinking Jesus was pretty upset and saddened at how the US came to be.

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