Gun church

iBrian

iBrian

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BBC NEWS | Americas | US pastor opens church to guns

A pastor in the US state of Kentucky told his flock to bring handguns to church in what he said was an effort to promote safe gun ownership.
Pastor Ken Pagano told parishioners to bring their unloaded guns to New Bethel Church in Louisville for a service celebrating the right to bear arms.
He said he acted after church members voiced fears the Obama administration could tighten gun control laws.
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Simply sounds insane to a Brit like me - I don't remember reading the Second Amendment in the New Testament?
 
I don't know, I grew up hearing that cleanliness was next to godliness, but in my dictionary guns are a lot closer to G!d than cleaning.

I recently saw an obvious republican conservative bumper sticker... "I'll keep my freedom, my rights, my guns and my money....You can have the 'change'.
 
It's an American thing, the right to keep and bear arms for self-defense. Even that gets miscontrued by our own politicians in an inane effort to protect the unwary from the irresponsible.

In the end it's another way to keep the coffers full and the money trail wide open.

Personally, I think its another one of those bizarre rituals that masquerade as religious blessing...whether bingo in the meeting hall or bring your pet python to church day...its all a stretch, but one that congregants seem willing to make.

Offhand, I see nothing particularly wrong. If the congregation is amenable (pardon the pun), what's the harm in promoting safety while pursuing a perfectly legal activity?

If others disagree, that is their perogative, and that too is an American Constitutional Right.
 
As a Scot that has never been there I am loathe to make sweeping judgements..... hang on...no I'm not... Americans are nuts! :D
 
It's wierd to me, and wouldn't be my type of church, but so long as it's safe then whatever floats your boat.

Personally, I think the gun ownership thing is a little more complicated here than many other first world nations. I'm not pro-gun at all, but I still recognize it's complicated. While I'm against handguns as they are made for only one purpose- an illegal, dangerous and unethical one in my opinion (to harm or kill a human)- many people own guns in the more remote/wild areas of the US for hunting or defense against animals.

I don't hunt, but I really respect those who get their food from hunting. Many areas are overpopulated with deer or elk, and hunting both keeps populations in check and provides food for a lot of families. Additionally, there are some backcountry areas with mountain lions, brown bears, and moose that can get rather dangerous to enter without some form of defense. I live in the mountains with black bears without any gun, but I also am very wary when the mountain lions are spotted around town and I've grown used to dealing with bears over the years (plus, black bears are smaller and more easily startled away than brown bears).

So, anyway, there is my 2 cents. I don't get the handgun mentality (stats show it's more likely to kill you or a friend/family member than an intruder) but I get the rifle mentality.
 
Well, they don't call the southern Bible Belt regions of the US "Guns and God" country for nothing. But, yeah, I think that that is taking it to a crazy extreme. "What would Jesus pack?:D" earl
 
path_of_one said:
Personally, I think the gun ownership thing is a little more complicated here than many other first world nations.
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I'll over simplify it for you POO, it's about power... plain and simple.

American are obsessed with weaponry, militarism, power and domination. We are a very disturbed society, one that spends over 700 billion dollars a year on "defense" but can't afford to give health care to the people.

Unlike POO I don't respect people who kill other animals for sport. What with game reserves, blinds, decoys, scents, calls, tree stands, trail cameras and high caliber weaponry, hunting has little to do with tracking, stealth and being one with nature. I'll wager that the number of people actually feeding their families with their catch is pretty miniscule. Hunting is an act of violence and domination over another being.

Gun ownership is largely about two things:
1. Having the ability to instantly seize control of a situation and gain the upper hand in order to intimidate, threaten, dominate, maim or kill the unarmed.​
2. A false hope that it will protect you against all of the people who engage in Reason #1.​

America's obsession with guns and violence is another reason I dream of emigrating north to Canada. (But it's just a dream.)
 
The initial story...
From The Sunday Times, May 27, 2007

Boy, 11, shoots biggest hog in the backwoods

citizenzen-albums-my-silly-stuff-picture1016-boyshootshog.jpg


“I was a little bit scared, a little bit excited,” said Jamison, who added that once he had brought the animal down he felt “really good”.

“It’s a good accomplishment,” he said. “I probably won’t ever kill anything else that big.”​

• • •​

and the follow-up...
Associated Press, June 1, 2007

‘Monster Pig’ was huge — just not wild

The huge hog that became known as "Monster Pig" after being killed by an 11-year-old boy was raised on a farm where it had another name: Fred.

Phil Blissitt said he purchased the 6-week-old pig in December 2004 as a Christmas gift for his wife, Rhonda, and they sold it to the owner of Lost Creek Plantation after deciding to get rid of all the pigs at their farm.

He told The Anniston Star in a story Friday that the sale was four days before the hog was killed in a 150-acre fenced area of the plantation.

"I just wanted the truth to be told. That wasn't a wild pig," Rhonda Blissitt said.​

• • •​

I just want to say to the boy, don't give up your dream. One day you might kill something even bigger. :rolleyes:
 
I's a former hunter. I'm now mostly veggie. I eat fish, eggs and cheese. I don't eat chicken, beef, pork, turkey etc. I quit eating store bought meat. I quit eating factory farm, bottom line profit producing meat. I still ate what got in front of my gun. I said I was a hunter, that was in the beginning, at the end I was just a harvester. I took animals where they were easy. If I wanted to go hikng in the woods and enjoy nature I had no desire to carry a twelve pound firing stick or be on a mission to kill. I would prefer bringing just a camera and/or lunch.

As I saw it the only difference between me as a hunter and the average human carnivore was they hired assassins to do the dirty work or slaughtering, butchering and sanitizing their cadavers into a piece of plastic ready to cook. We took part in the whole affair.

Back to the pig. He was headed to the slaughterhouse one way or another. Whether he was in line for a fattening pen and be shot full of drugs and hormones prior to walking down a chute watching his fellow pigs get a piston shot in their heads and immediately swung on a hook while their entrails were sliced out, watching and squealing and fighting to back up with the rest of the pigs in the chute as the adrenaline flowed thru his viens and into his meat...or whether he spent his last four days wandering in a 150 acre pen (pretty big pen, hunting in thier is pretty close to wild) and then taken down by an eleven year old... I'd prefer to eat the meat of the latter.

As to our American obsession with guns. It is a combination of our colonisitic oppression when our guns were taken away to control us....the second ammendment is written specifically for the citizenry to protect itsef from an abusive out of control gov't (although now the gov't has outlawed us having the same weaponry as them). And our wide expanses, wild west need for protection, and hunting..all combined we like our guns...not infidually, but collectively. And while gun owners and this attitude is becoming a minority...its original reasons have not lost their merit, as a matter of fact with the rights we've lost in the past few generations it is as important now as it has ever been.

Praise the lord and pass the ammunition.
 
wil said:
Praise the lord and pass the ammunition.
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While I would have loved to have saved that pig three hours of terror, it's really the boy I'm more concerned about...
“I was a little bit scared, a little bit excited,” said Jamison, who added that once he had brought the animal down he felt “really good”.

“It’s a good accomplishment,” he said. “I probably won’t ever kill anything else that big.”​

What exactly were they teaching the boy? What is it that he feels "good" about?
 
There is a sense of accomplishment in providing for yourself. And at its root that is what hunting is. Again, in my view, unless you are a vegan, I don't see how anyone has a right to look down there noses at hunters. If you eat meat you simply don't wish to do the dirty work that it takes to provide for yourself.
 
wil said:
There is a sense of accomplishment in providing for yourself.
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Sounds like a business model.

Instead of pick your own peaches, we can have shoot your own farm animal.

Weekend fun for the whole family.
 
As a carnivore, always feel a tad bit hypocritical when I condemn hunting. However, though I grew up a farm lad in South Dakota where farm culture is synonymous with hunting, never cared for it. I've never understood the allure in sport hunting-killing things not for purposes of consumption. Seems a tad "blood-thirsty.":) earl
 
citizenzen said:
Sounds like a business model.

Instead of pick your own peaches, we can have shoot your own farm animal.

Weekend fun for the whole family.
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Don't know about business model, but with only slight variation it has been a *very* successful evolutionary model: "Instead of pick your own peaches, we can have kill your own farm animal. Weekend fun for the whole family" has worked for thousands of years before now. Why all of the sudden are we so squeamish?

Is it just about the method, not the motivation?

Would the animal be any less dead if the boy used a bow and arrow? Or a deadfall? Or maybe a hand grenade?

BTW, the pic just doesn't look right, something about it looks photoshopped. It reminds me of the postcards years ago of a fish mounted on a boat trailor to haul them home, or a jackalope in a taxidermy shop. It's too "good" to be "real."
 
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The EU seems dripping with faith in the goodness of government. I hope such faith bears out, but it is still too early in the game for me to be convinced. Government's goodness is unproven, and I think that trust is not yet earned. That goes for both democracy and socialism. WWII was faught merely 60 years ago, and I wonder if modern socialist populations will tend to Big-Brotherize in the future? What will keep governments in check? So far the answers I have gotten from people are: 1. Education 2. Vigilance 3. Arms Rights 4. Nothing.... oh yeah....5. Religion 6. Juries 7. Movie Stars
 
that pastor must really feel strongly about it because hes risking his exempt status... so really if it was all about filling the coffers... wouldnt that be shooting himself in the foot?

I appreciate my rights as an American and I appreciate them even more as they get taken away.
 
Faithfulservant said:
I appreciate my rights as an American and I appreciate them even more as they get taken away.
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Which rights? The rights not to have your phone conversations tapped and put into a database to see if you're a terrorist?

Blame G. W. Bush for that.

The right to not be held indefinitely without being charged for a crime?

Blame G. W. Bush for that too.

The right not be subject to cruel and unusual punishment?

Oh... one more to blame on G. Double-U Boooosh!


What rights did you have in mind FS?
 
wil said:
I don't know, I grew up hearing that cleanliness was next to godliness, but in my dictionary guns are a lot closer to G!d than cleaning.

I recently saw an obvious republican conservative bumper sticker... "I'll keep my freedom, my rights, my guns and my money....You can have the 'change'.
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amen. And you could add to that "and when sh*t hits the fan, I'll cover your family's **s too". That's another bumper sticker...
 
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