#NRAitforward

Students escape from Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX, May 24, 2022. (Source: ABCNews.com)

The assault rifle Adam Lanza used at Sandy Hook Elementary allowed him to shoot at the first graders hiding in their classrooms 150 times in less than five minutes.

The year following Sandy Hook, political contributions from gun rights groups like the NRA more than doubled in order to fight off heightened calls for gun control, and our politicians took the money.  They profited from the murder of those children.

This week, in Uvalde, Texas, 19 more elementary school children were murdered, in their school, by a man using an assault rifle.  The passionate cries for change have already begun, and so there’s surely another windfall of donations coming from the NRA and other groups to fight them off in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting.

Rather than lining their campaign war chests with this money like they did after Sandy Hook, recipients of these NRA donations should pass them right on to the victims’ families.  Our elected officials shouldn’t profit from the mass murder of children again.

Please spread the word. #NRAitforward

Should I Stay or Should I Go? The Biblical Authority Question

Churches all over are currently considering the invitation by leaders of the Wesley Covenant Association (WCA) to leave the United Methodist Church (UMC) and become a part of a new denomination.  They officially began operating as a new denomination on May 1, and on May 2 announced news that 107 churches will be leaving the UMC to join.

The issue that has driven talk of the formation of a new denomination for years is the issue of hosting same-sex weddings at UMC facilities, UMC clergy officiating them, and people in same-sex marriages serving in lay or clergy leadership roles in the UMC.  

However, those speaking on behalf of the WCA have frequently stated that these are actually “symptoms of a larger problem.”

Along the Way: Parting Words & Words of Witness

An important word from one of my most important teachers, Rev. Dr. Steve Harper:

On May 1st, the Global Methodist Church will officially begin, and some congregations will disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church, the first wave of a separation process that will take years to complete. I will not be going with them, and as the GMC day of departure draws near, I am pondering why I will […]

Along the Way: Parting Words & Words of Witness

We Are Overmatched, and We Are Better For It

American Christian Fundamentalism started with the declaration “We’re looking for people who are willing to go to battle for the fundamentals.”

It was birthed in battle.  Battle is its first language, its natural posture, its resting face.  It knows few clearer ways to measure its impact than by the blows it manages to land on its villains.