Curated topics for a disillusioned church
Six strangers - three that are pro-gun and three that are anti-gun - discuss a handful of questions and/or statements regarding guns. A couple of statements that the people answer are "I think my views on guns could change" and "people on the other side don't care about me or my loved ones' lives."
Host Skye Jethani and columnist David French role model what it is like to have a conversation from a shared Christian background, but disagree on specific policies. The insightful conversation touches on red flag laws, suicide and guns, the right to self defense, and whether it is a good or bad to have more people with concealed carry permits. With good faith arguments made on both sides their conversation will make you think thoughtfully about the gun debate. Skip to skip to 32:38 to get to the interview.
Following the San Bernardino shooting in December of 2015 pastor Drew Tucker penned this heartfelt post in which he acknowledges that, within the gun debate, it is a heart problem. A heart problem that we continue to harden our hearts and not make any meaningful change no matter the cost.
Framing the conversation within the Sermon on the Mount and Psalm 22 pastor Mark Davis of St. Mark Presbyterian (Newport Beach, CA) says that first we must recognize that all violence is a sin and acknowledge the oftentimes persistent role of fear within the human experience. Second, as Christians, we must recognize that we have a civic duty and a spiritual duty. At times those two things are in agreement while at other times they are not. Last, within the realm of the gun/gun violence conversation, our starting point should be the cross, not the Second Amendment.
NRA Under Fire takes a look at the transformation of the NRA from an organization focusing on teaching gun safety to a group primarily concerned with gun rights. The film details the tactics used by the NRA against gun legislation, how the NRA has been so successful at blocking gun legislation for decades, and the battle between the NRA and politicians who want to introduce gun legislation.
For many Americans, statistics on the number of gun deaths in the country doesn't phase them. For instance, did you know that every day in the United States, 316 people are shot? Did you know that 106 of the people that are shot die (5 of them being children from 1-17 years old)? Did you know that sixty percent of gun deaths are suicides and another third are homicides? Are we willing to accept these statistics as normal? What will it take for us to unite and pass common sense gun laws?
The United States has more guns, more firearm suicides, more mass shootings, and more gun related deaths than any similarly developed nation in the world. How did we get here? And what three solutions could effectively reduce gun violence by 29%? ABC News answers those questions in just 11 minutes.
Addressing policing, racism, and guns, co-hosts Chris Ridgeway and Adam Graber take a look at guns from a technological perspective and attempt to answer the question-- are guns a technological force for good? If they are or are not, what are the implications for Christians?
In Louisville, Kentucky a church holds a service where guns are given away in a raffle. In Charleston, South Carolina the family of victims of the Charleston mass shooting in 2015 choose to forgive the gunman. In Apopka, Florida a gun manufacturer makes rifles with Psalm 144:1 engraved on the gun. Which one looks like Christ to you?
No sugar coating or platitudes here as Army veteran Anastasia Bernoulli passionately lays out why civilians don't need to own military grade rifles. A word of warning that this article contains some swearing.
Sunday to Saturday 
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