On our money we read “In God We Trust.” During every election cycle and at the end of every presidential speech we hear “God Bless America.” In the Pledge of Allegiance, we recite “One nation under God.” And yet the violence upon which our country was formed, and which continues to support us is not reflective of the God of either the old or new Testaments, or of the Koran, or of any other religious teaching that comes to mind. We are at the end of the Easter Season, a season of rejoicing for the love that was shown by God with the resurrection of Jesus. This weekend we mark the Feast of the Ascension. We hear how Jesus left his disciples behind with the promise of sending the Holy Spirit to empower them for his mission. I paused on the last few lines of the first reading from Acts 1:1-11. As Jesus ascends, two messengers in white (a sign of divinity) appear and ask the disciples “Why are you standing there looking at the sky?” It seems to me that many people who profess to be followers of Jesus are still standing around looking to the skies rather than taking the time needed to look around at the issues on the ground – the signs of the times, the struggles that people are facing in their real lives – and working to address them.
Following the departure of Jesus, the disciples, and the women who were with them, returned to the upper room where they were staying in Jerusalem. They spent time in prayer and also figured out who would take the place of Judas who had betrayed Jesus. It was there in the upper room that according to John’s Gospel the disciples encountered the risen Jesus and received the spirit. In Acts, the disciples wait longer for the spirit to come – an event that the church will celebrate next Sunday. There are, in our day, professed followers of Jesus still hiding out, waiting for a sign or an infusion of courage or permission perhaps, to act on the teachings of Jesus, even though the power of the Holy Spirit was loosed in the world eons ago.
You did not have to be a sensitive feeling type person to be overwhelmed this week. As the news began to come in from Uvalde in Texas I had to stop listening. There is only so much I can take in at a time. Reading news that I can skim or set aside as needed is all I can manage. Still, there are images that will haunt me for a long time, just as there are images from Sandy Hook that continue to shake me – as they should. I do not at all mean to take less seriously the images from Buffalo, or Los Angeles, or anywhere else. Nor do I pass over the many acts of violence inside our nation’s high schools or colleges, but the massacre of little children is so horrifying that it is impossible to believe that my fellow Americans would not want to move heaven and earth to stop such carnage. But we don’t.
During the last few years, it has become quite clear to me that the United States is not a God-fearing nation. We are a nation that uses “god-language” to promote or justify ungodly ways. There are many people who profess belief in Jesus, but the Jesus that they profess is a stranger to me. Their Jesus, reflected in how his followers behave, is a gun toting, flag waving patriot who dislikes immigrants, people of color, accurate history, and most issues related to the care of people, especially women and children.
The tragedy in Uvalde this week was not just tragic, it displayed criminal neglect on the part of government officials and the people who vote them into office. America will continue to be the nation known for massacres as long as nothing is done to change the laws that allow such massacres to happen. Other countries have stopped or minimized such events by limiting widespread access to guns, by requiring waiting periods before buying guns and by following through with background checks. It is not impossible to do this. Our allies stand ready to show us how.
I was interested in knowing the official position of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and was pleased to read on their website that they have a list of very sensible responses including: A ban on assault weapons; Universal background checks; A federal gun trafficking bill; Regulations on sales of handguns; Improved mental health interventions; and an honest assessment of violent images and experiences in our society. (https://www.usccb.org/resources/responses-plague-gun-violence) I just wish that they would speak out on gun violence with as much urgency as they do regarding abortion. Gun violence is now the main cause of death for young people. Instead, the bishops’ important gun stance is muted. I can only guess at the reasons why. https://www.axios.com/2022/05/26/gun-deaths-children-america
Once again, arming teachers – more violence to combat violence – has been raised as a strategy to curb school shootings. Considering that the armed officers in Uvalde waited nearly an hour to enter the building after the first two officers experienced gun fire and retreated, I am stunned that anyone can take such a strategy suggestion seriously. Perhaps the teachers are more expendable than police officers? Years ago, when I was alone with my children, my father tried to convince me to get a gun. I remember our exchange well. I reminded him that safe gun ownership education taught that guns and ammunition should be locked up, preferably on different floors of the house or as far apart as possible. I would walk through a scenario with my dad; me hearing some commotion and then needing to get the gun cabinet key and race up and down the stairs from locked gun case to locked ammo case before loading a gun and trying to ‘protect’ my children. The alternative was to keep a loaded gun within reach which is absolutely indefensible in a household with young children who are more likely to find the gun and shoot themselves or others. And that of course is the scenario that ‘gun rights’ people advocate for teachers of young children: loaded guns in classrooms. I used to tell my dad that locking the doors at night was sufficient unless a psycho-killer arrived – which was unlikely but probably not something anyone c
ould stop anyway.
I still believe that, but something else is going on in America. The psycho-killers, the mostly young men who get hold of guns, shoot their families, and then shoot to kill children, teenagers, people of color, church people, shoppers and anyone else that seems to fit the description of their particular hatred or rage – these damaged young men are becoming more and more common. We live in a country built on violence, the violence of forced colonization, slavery, genocide, and unregulated capitalism. We make more guns than any other country and there is so much profit from that industry that lawmakers are loath to curtail it. It seems to me that the seeds of violence that have been sown into the very fabric of our land are coming to fruition in ways too terrible to read about.
It is worth saying that the second amendment is not a divine law. It can be eliminated or controlled with limitations based on love, not profit; hope, not fear. With Americans this seems to be impossible. With God, the God of Love who raised Jesus from the dead, all things are possible, but only if we come out of hiding, look around at what is happening, and embrace the power that comes from the Spirit.
Please, sign any and all petitions to control guns. Stand with the students who will March for Our Lives on June 11. And demand that the bishops speak out with the urgency that this threat to children’s lives requires.
It also seems to me that these violent male-child/men think that they are unloved. We may all feel that in our teenage years, but these people seem to truly believe it. I often wonder how much of the violence comes from the fact that they could be unwanted children.