Religion and Gun Violence

There was a letter to the editor in the Tampa Bay Times today (1/19/13) about religion and gun violence. Apparently, a Hillsborough County School Board member suggested that one way to keep children safe at school was to “introduce the children of this nation to the house of the Lord.” I completely agree with the writer of the letter that the public school system should not in any way engage in religious indoctrination. That is a direct violation of the constitutional protection of freedom of (as well as from) religion and the separation of church and state.

The writer of the letter to the editor goes on the say, “Religion is not the answer to school shootings.” Religion may not be the answer, but it certainly could and should have an impact on the level of violence in our society. Christianity teaches directly that violence of every kind is morally wrong. Violence is in direct conflict with the teachings of Jesus. If the church was serious about following Jesus, many more people in our society would believe that violence in unchristian and it is against the will of God as revealed in the teachings of Jesus. If the church really promoted the teachings of Jesus to turn the other cheek and love your enemy, as well as the exhortation to love your neighbor as yourself, I think our society would be far less violent.

It seems to me that instead the church focuses on convincing people to believe that Jesus is divine and that he will get you into heaven after you die and rescue you from going to hell for eternity. If the church were to put as much effort, time, music, tracts, money, preaching, and energy into spreading the anti violent teachings of Jesus as it does to matters of eternal salvation, the world would be much more as God intended – a far more peaceable realm.

Religion, and specifically Christianity, should be playing a much larger role in eradicating violence from our communities, our society and the world. And this applies to all violence from domestic abuse, to school shootings, to war. Jesus is and ever was a pacifist. I look forward to the day when students in public school are taught about various world religions and they are told that Christianity is a religion based on following the teachings of Jesus who was a pacifist and encouraged his disciples to love their enemies and turn the other cheek when faced with violence.