Two Mass Shootings in Texas in One Month: Who Owns Guns in the U.S? (Answer: White Republican Evangelical Men Above All)

Latest mass shooter in Texas from Odessa American

1/ Texas has just had two mass shootings in one month. In both, aggrieved white males who had easy access to guns went on rampages and killed multiple people. In light of this, we need to review — all over again — who owns guns in the U.S., where they're far too easy to access.

— 𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕒𝕞 𝔻. 𝕃𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕤𝕖𝕪 🌈 (@wdlindsy) September 2, 2019

Ruth Krall, Today's Sermon: Today's Idolatrous Slaughter of the Innocents

Today's Sermon: Today's Idolatrous Slaughter of the Innocents

Ruth Elizabeth Krall, MSN, PhD

Idolatry defined: extreme reverence, love, or reverence for someone or something other than G-d. 

Why They're Furious About Bishop Michael Curry: Worldwide Platform to Proclaim "Ferociously Political Faith in the Radical Power of Christian Love"

Stepped into the hallway of my Chicago hotel this morning for a moment during the #RoyalWedding and through the closed doors of every single room I could hear Michael Curry preaching on love. ❤️

— Diana Butler Bass (@dianabutlerbass) May 19, 2018

The RNS article to which I pointed you yesterday, discussing Bishop Michael Curry's presence at the royal wedding: its title is "American bishop brings human rights focus to royal wedding." Here's a response to that title from a U.S. "pro-life," Latin Mass-promoting Catholic: 

At last! We’re focusing on the human rights of the unborn.

Hell of a Week: "Americans Who Mandate a Close, Symbiotic Relationship btw Christianity & Civil Society Are Deeply Opposed to Federal Gun Control Legislation"

With yet another tragic mass shooting, the #GunControl debate will yet again take center stage.

One reason for the intractable nature of this debate? Deeply held moral & religious schemas like Christian nationalism. 1/8@LandonSchnabel @PaulHRosenberg @jackmjenkins @JackSmithIV

— Andrew Whitehead (@ndrewwhitehead) May 18, 2018

Our working paper shows that Americans who mandate a close, symbiotic relationship btw Christianity & civil society are deeply opposed to federal gun control legislation. 2/8

Find the working paper here: https://t.co/1FzmpjZlxr@socarxiv pic.twitter.com/gFlHvYnHw3

— Andrew Whitehead (@ndrewwhitehead) May 18, 2018

It has been a hell of a week, and center-stage in each fresh hell are U.S. white Christians, notably white evangelicals. Here's some commentary:

"No Going Back from What Happened This Weekend": Commentary on #MarchForOurLives

Charles Pierce, "There's No Going Back From What Happened This Weekend. The Gun Debate Is Over":

National Student Walkout Against Gun Violence: Arkansas Students Receive Corporal Punishment for Walkout

My kid and two other students walked out of their rural, very conservative, public school for 17 minutes today. They were given two punishment options. They chose corporal punishment. This generation is not playing around. #walkout

— Jerusalem Greer (@JerusalemGreer) March 14, 2018

As a footnote to what I've posted in the past few days about the National School Walkout, I thought I'd tell you about what happened at a school in Greenbrier, Arkansas, when several students walked out to show their solidarity with students across the country protesting gun violence: the students were paddled by school officials for taking part in the walkout. The mother of one of these students, Jerusalem Greer, an Episcopal lay minister, posted about this on Twitter, and her tweet (it's at the head of this posting) has gone viral. 

More on Catholic Schools and National Walkout: "Unfortunately, Some of the Sponsors of the National School Walkout Advocate for Positions That Are Contrary to the Church’s Teachings"

Two PA Catholic Schools to Pray Instead of Protest in Walkout Over Gun Violence https://t.co/wNaYKEaXgh

— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 14, 2018

I'm grateful to Betty and Sarasi for pointing me to additional news coverage of how Catholic schools responded to the National School Walkout protesting gun violence and advocating for gun control as a solution to gun violence. Betty points us to an article in National Catholic Reporter which suggests that there was wide buy-in among Catholic schools nationwide supporting the walkout. 

"Catholic Schools Pray Instead of Protest for National School Walkout": When "Pro-Life" Means "We Don't Protest — Well, Not for Gun Control. Abortion Is Another Matter."

Two PA Catholic Schools to Pray Instead of Protest in Walkout Over Gun Violence https://t.co/wNaYKEaXgh

— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 14, 2018

"Let’s Rename ‘School’ as ‘Uterus’ So Maybe Republican Lawmakers Will Want to Do Something about the Children Dying Inside Them": Short Takes to Recommend

Let’s rename ‘school’ as ‘uterus’ so maybe Republican lawmakers will want to do something about the children dying inside them.

— Nathan G (@nwg83) February 15, 2018

Twitter Chews Over Election Results: "Thoughts and Prayers to all the Republican Politicians Who Lost Their Seats Today"

Thoughts and prayers to all the Republican politicians who lost their seats today. We won't do anything to prevent it from happening again.

— Bess Kalb (@bessbell) November 8, 2017

Fantasies of Some American Christians about "Good" Violence as Precursor of Second Coming: Theological Root Not to Overlook in Gun-Control Debate

What can churches do for protection? @robertjeffress weighs in pic.twitter.com/IxxgScBI3f

— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) November 6, 2017

Because of our historical amnesia and religious illiteracy — both of them aided and abetted by our media — many Americans know little about powerful strands in American Christian thought, especially among white evangelicals, that feed our national fantasies about guns and violence. When Western Christianity made its fateful turn with Constantine, conflating church and state in many troubling ways and resulting in the church's blessing of state violence, it turned decisively away from the pacifist theology of such early Christian thinkers as Tertullian, who taught (On Idolatry) that wearing the belt of a soldier was incompatible with following Jesus, who had instructed his followers that those who take the sword will die by the sword. 

Las Vegas Story: Google Finds Itself Gamed Again by Organized Hate Groups (Back to the Case of Father Martin and Church Militant)

On 21 September, I presented you with a series of screenshots showing you that on that day at about 2 P.M. CST (in the U.S.), the three "top news" stories that Google was returning to those who googled the name "James Martin" were all personal attacks on Father Martin from the Church Militant website, which is not a bona fide news site at all.

Thoughts and Prayers: The American Way of Evading Meaningful Action Through Resort to Meaningless "Religious" Nonsense

The first truckload of thoughts and prayers prepares to leave for Las Vegas. This should resolve our mass shooting problem. pic.twitter.com/dAUmAabStj

— Jim Beaver (@jumblejim) October 3, 2017

Conversations in the Age of Trump: Cousins, Guns, Church, and Blood-Thirsty Idols

Conversations in the age of Trump:

Cousin:

Guns make us safer.

"We've Seen the Videos. The Difference Between You and Me Isn't a Matter of Error, but of Will": Guns, God, and Race in America, July 2016

Chris Lebron, New York Times: 

If America had decided that black lives do matter when it had the chance, the cycle of violence that has robbed us and threatens to continue to rob us of precious lives could have been broken. 

One reason the correspondence theory of truth has lost favor among professional philosophers is that we can't always rely on our senses to corroborate facts. But we've seen the videos. The difference between you and me isn't a matter of error, but of will.

Twitter Comments on Mass Shooting at Gay Nightclub in Orlando: "2nd Most Fatal Shooting by Single Shooter in World History"

This is the 2nd most fatal shooting by single shooter in world history, 2nd to Norway 2011: https://t.co/cYcYyqMyx8 https://t.co/69rHGopCHI

— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) June 12, 2016

As news about the atrocity at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando early this morning breaks, tweets that are catching my attention:

Questions Trump's Fascist Demagoguery Raises: Why Do We Have This Problem? Can It Happen Here? Why Can It Happen Here?

Just a reminder #p2 #tcot pic.twitter.com/0yLsk1atr4

— R.Saddler (@Politics_PR) December 9, 2015

"Just Another Day in the United States of America, Another Day of Gunfire, Panic, and Fear": Commentary on Latest Mass Shooting in U.S.

Birth control? BAN IT! Abortion? BAN IT! Gay marriage? BAN IT! Guns? Look, banning things never works. People will find ways to get them.

— Nick Martucci (@BlunderingIdiom) August 4, 2015