Faith Leaders Calling for an End to Gun Violence

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http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/religion/news/2013/03/21/57658/faith-leaders-calling-for-an-end-to-gun-violence/


Chicago Police First Deputy Superintendent Alfonsa Wysinger, second from left, accompanied by Deputy Chief Wayne Gulliford, left, speaks at a news conference Monday, January 28, 2013, in Chicago. The pair joined other officers, elected officials, clergy, and community members, with a display of recently recovered firearms from the 574 seized to date beginning January 1, 2013.

By Eleni Towns | March 21, 2013

Faith leaders across the country are speaking out against the gun violence plaguing their communities. Many denominations and faith-based groups have long called for policies to prevent gun violence, but after the recent mass shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, Oak Creek, Wisconsin, and Aurora, Colorado, faith leaders are now speaking out even more strongly for a permanent solution. As spiritual first responders to these tragedies, faith leaders witness the grave impact that gun violence has on our families, schools, houses of worship, and neighborhoods.

Earlier this month, more than 4,000 clergy members across the United States joined clergy in Newtown calling for gun-violence prevention legislation in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Last weekend, congregations across the country participated in a gun-violence prevention Sabbath, including discussions, prayers, and sermons in their worship services. The Washington National Cathedral served as the flagship for the national event, which held a four-day series of programs that were broadcast via live web stream to nearly 400 congregations across the country. Religious leaders from Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu communities shared their unique perspectives on the impact of gun violence based on years of burying victims and comforting broken families.

Faith leaders from all congregations are joining forces to stress the moral imperative for measures preventing gun violence; supporting federal legislation requiring universal background checks, a ban on assault weapons, and high-capacity magazines; and making gun trafficking a federal crime. Here are some of the faith leaders across the country who are bringing greater public awareness to the horrific consequences of gun violence and calling for common-sense prevention measures in 2013.

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, diocesan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington: “It is only natural to wonder in our worst moments whether God has abandoned us. Yet the more compelling spiritual question isn’t where God was last Friday morning, but rather where we were. For God has no body on earth but ours. If we only pray and offer comfort now, and do not act, we are complicit in perpetuating the conditions that allow such crimes to occur. It is time, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, to substitute courage for caution.”

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