{"id":11758,"date":"2012-08-21T02:21:22","date_gmt":"2012-08-21T06:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/?p=11758"},"modified":"2012-10-07T21:52:09","modified_gmt":"2012-10-08T01:52:09","slug":"should-worshipers-be-allowed-to-arm-themselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2012\/08\/should-worshipers-be-allowed-to-arm-themselves","title":{"rendered":"Should worshipers be allowed to arm themselves?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bring guns to church? Pastor\u00a0Ken Pagano provoked a firestorm when he invited members of Louisville, Kentucky\u2019s New Bethel Church to celebrate the 4th of July and their 2nd Amendment rights by bringing their firearms to church.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Pastor Ken Pagano<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The national news media opened fire at the very idea. After all, why should nice church folks need guns to defend themselves?<\/p>\n

However, two years later as the nation recoiled from a series of shootings at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., a Colorado movie theater and a Wisconsin Sikh worship center, Black Christian News<\/a> raised the question again: \u201cShould Christians Be Allowed to Carry Guns to Church?\u201d On the international news section of its website, BCN notes a number of overseas attacks on worshipers, including \u201cLeaders in Nigeria Warn of Anarchy After Church\/Mosque Shootings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Wisconsin Sikhs await word about their loved ones<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But are American places of worship under attack? The Family Research Council and the Liberty Institute think so. On Monday\u00a0they released a study of more than 600 documented, recent incidents of hostility to religion in the United States.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica today would be unrecognizable to our Founders,\u201d said Liberty Institute President, Kelly Shackleford. \u201cOur First Liberty is facing a relentless onslaught from well-funded and aggressive groups and individuals who are using the courts, Congress, and the vast federal bureaucracy to suppress and limit religious freedom. This radicalized minority is driven by an anti-religious ideology that is turning the First Amendment upside down.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Kelly Shackleford<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“As dark as this survey is,\u201d said FRC President Tony Perkins, \u201cthere is much light. The secularists’ agenda only advances when those who love liberty are apathetic. Let this be a call to stand for religious liberty in the United States.”<\/p>\n

While they were unveiling their Survey of Religious Hostility in America<\/a>, a group calling itself Military Atheists and Freethinkers, which has been pressuring the Pentagon to appoint atheist chaplains, was denouncing the American Legion for using religious language.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to see military service co-opted to promote religious values above American values,\u201d chastised the atheist group\u2019s president, Jason Torpy,<\/a> calling for the Legion to repudiate a recent statement by Continued on Page 2<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bring guns to church? Pastor\u00a0Ken Pagano provoked a firestorm when he invited members of Louisville, Kentucky\u2019s New Bethel Church to celebrate the 4th of July and their 2nd Amendment rights by bringing their firearms to church. The national news media opened fire at the very idea. After all, why should nice church folks need guns…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[999,674,100,2093,976,1104,2126,84,1120,966,949,969,5,74,344,1604],"tags":[2127,2232,2286,2128,2242,2244,2210,2277],"class_list":["post-11758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-legion","category-atheist","category-commentary","category-family-research-council","category-free-speech","category-gender-equality","category-liberty-institute","category-military","category-persecuted-christians","category-persecution","category-pledge-of-allegiance","category-political-correctness","category-politics","category-religious-freedom","category-roman-catholic-church","category-southern-baptist-convention","tag-assemblies-of-god","tag-atheist","tag-family-research-council","tag-national-council-of-churches","tag-persecution","tag-political-correctness","tag-religious-freedom","tag-southern-baptist-convention"],"yoast_head":"\nShould worshipers be allowed to arm themselves?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2012\/08\/should-worshipers-be-allowed-to-arm-themselves\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should worshipers be allowed to arm themselves?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bring guns to church? Pastor\u00a0Ken Pagano provoked a firestorm when he invited members of Louisville, Kentucky\u2019s New Bethel Church to celebrate the 4th of July and their 2nd Amendment rights by bringing their firearms to church. The national news media opened fire at the very idea. 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Pastor\u00a0Ken Pagano provoked a firestorm when he invited members of Louisville, Kentucky\u2019s New Bethel Church to celebrate the 4th of July and their 2nd Amendment rights by bringing their firearms to church. The national news media opened fire at the very idea. 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