Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: dvnspc1!tom@tredysvr.tredydev.unisys.com (Tom Albrecht) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: The Church, the NRA, and gun control Message-ID: Date: 4 Apr 91 05:59:05 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Unisys Corporation, Devon, PA Lines: 51 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu "Methodist pastor lists NRA with Mafia as public enemy." by Paul H. Blackman, Ph. D. [From _American Rifleman_, April 1991, p. 50] Since the 1970s, Americans have been told on the envelopes of Handgun Control, Inc., fund-raising letters that "this is your first real chance to tell the NRA to go to Hell!" And that has been the gist of HCI's publicity campaign, one accepted as appropriate by its supporters. The push for "gun control" is portrayed more as a way to "get" the NRA than a way to curb crime. When the Senate last year voted 50-49 to ban some semi-automatic firearms, HCI toasted the result as the beginning of the end of the NRA. When the "Brady Bill" was reintroduced at the start of this session of Congress, its House sponsor, Rep. Ed Feighan, said: "This is not only the reintroduction of the Brady Bill. This is a declaration of war against the NRA." Until recently, most religious leaders and organizations, though often formally supporting gun control, avoided attacking the NRA. This was true even in the United Methodist Church, which founded - and initially funded - The National Coalition to Ban Handguns (now the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence) in 1975, calling for a ban on the private possession of handguns and licensing of rifles and shotguns. Now the Rev. William Holmes of Washington, D.C.'s Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church, has used his pulpit to describe the NRA as "public enemy No.2." The Mafia is his "public enemy No. 1." Rev. Holmes was not preaching against NRA simply as an abstract organization, but against its 2.6 million individual members. He noted that NRA members, like Mafia members, have some good points: members of both organizations get married, have children, take care of their families, etc. Rev. Holmes said he scheduled his attack on the NRA and its members for the first Sunday in Lent, a time of personal reflection and repentance. The sermon was preached by the senior pastor of what is called the National Methodist Church due to its prominence in the city, and its relationship to the Methodist-founded American University, located in the nation's capital. Will the official position of the United Methodist Church change from opposing gun ownership to vilifying the NRA and its members? Will it start labeling the NRA the "evil empire" as HCI's Sarah and Jim Brady have done? Church members may wish to express their views to the General Board of Church and Society, United Methodist Church, 100 Maryland Ave., N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002. -- Tom Albrecht