Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence presumes to tell people how to worship

June 30, 9:31 AMSt. Louis Gun Rights ExaminerKurt Hofmann

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     Oleg Volk photo

Last night, the Northwest Baptist Church, in Toledo, OH, held a rally celebrating the right to keep and bear arms, and spreading the message that the exercise of that right is in no way incompatible with Christian values.

The rally will point to numerous biblical references claiming Jesus Christ would support second amendment rights. "We're just informing our folks you got to be able to protect yourself and what does the Bible have to say about it. We know our constitution. But this is the final authority here above our Constitution is the word of God," said Reverend Andrew Edwards with the Northwest Baptist Church.

Near the beginning of the following video clip from WTOL 11 (the West Toledo CBS affiliate), a rather provocative question is posed by the newscaster:

Should Christians be allowed to carry guns?

I trust that he's referring to the question of the compatibility of armed self-defense and Christian values, rather than whether or not the laws regarding the keeping and bearing of arms should be different for people of differing religious faiths.

As one might have guessed, there were some with whom this rally did not sit well.  The Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence (OCAGV) was particularly apoplectic.

“It is an embarrassment to people of faith that pray for peace and non-violence to have gun proponents use a house of worship to encourage the ownership and defend the use of weapons.

“Firearms are not sacred relics of worship. They are tools of violence- lethal products designed to kill and injure human beings, to destroy lives, and cause terror in our communities.

“Guns allow a person to decide who lives and who dies. It is absolutely immoral to suggest that the Bible supports violence. We need to reduce gun violence, not use fear to divide and distract us to the suffering caused by our gun culture.

There's more, but you get the idea.

What struck me about that press release was not the over-the-top emotionalism of the rhetoric, which is, after all, fairly typical for citizen disarmament propaganda.  No, what floored me was the arrogance inherent to telling people that they're worshipping "wrongly," and that their church service is "immoral."

It seems that along with the right to keep and bear arms, even freedom of religion offends OCAGV.