Kentucky Pastor asks congregation to bring guns to church

Started by Syt, June 06, 2009, 08:02:20 AM

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Syt

June 06, 2009, 08:02:20 AM Last Edit: June 06, 2009, 08:06:00 AM by Syt
AP: Gun-loving pastor to his flock: Piece be with you

QuoteLOUISVILLE, Ky. – A Kentucky pastor is inviting his flock to bring guns to church to celebrate the Fourth of July and the Second Amendment.

New Bethel Church is welcoming "responsible handgun owners" to wear their firearms inside the church June 27, a Saturday. An ad says there will be a handgun raffle, patriotic music and information on gun safety.

"We're just going to celebrate the upcoming theme of the birth of our nation," said pastor Ken Pagano. "And we're not ashamed to say that there was a strong belief in God and firearms — without that this country wouldn't be here."

The guns must be unloaded and private security will check visitors at the door, Pagano said.

He said recent church shootings, including the killing Sunday of a late-term abortion provider in Kansas, which he condemned, highlight the need to promote safe gun ownership. The New Bethel Church event was planned months before Dr. George Tiller was shot to death in a Wichita church.

Kentucky allows residents to openly carry guns in public with some restrictions. Gun owners carrying concealed weapons must have state-issued permits and can't take them to schools, jails or bars, among other exceptions.

Pagano's Protestant church, which attracts up to 150 people to Sunday services, is a member of the Assemblies of God. The former Marine and handgun instructor said he expected some backlash, but has heard only a "little bit" of criticism of the gun event.

John Phillips, an Arkansas pastor who was shot twice while leading a service at his former church in 1986, said a house of worship is no place for firearms.

"A church is designated as a safe haven, it's a place of worship," said Phillips, who was shot by a church member's relative for an unknown reason and still has a bullet lodged in his spine. "It is unconscionable to me to think that a church would be a place that you would even want to bring a weapon."

Phillips spoke out against a bill before the Arkansas General Assembly that would have permitted the carrying of guns in that state's churches. The bill failed in February.

Pagano, 50, said some members of his church were concerned that President Obama's administration could restrict gun ownership, and they supported the plan for the event when Pagano asked their opinion.

Marian McClure Taylor, executive director of the Kentucky Council of Churches, an umbrella organization for 11 Christian denominations in Kentucky, said Christian churches are promoters of peace, but "most allow for arms to be taken up under certain conditions."

Taylor said Pagano assured her the event would focus on promoting responsible gun ownership and any proceeds would go to charity.

"Those two commitments are consistent with the high value the Assemblies of God churches place on human life," she said in an e-mail message.

Pagano is encouraging church members to bring a canned good and a friend to the event. He said guns must be unloaded for insurance purposes and safety reasons.

He said the point was not to mix worship with guns, though he may reference some passages from the Bible.

"Firearms can be evil and they can be useful," he said. "We're just trying to promote responsible gun ownership and gun safety."

Eucharist will be held with gas station biscuits, I guess. :lol:
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Ed Anger

#1
June 06, 2009, 08:03:08 AM
testify!
Stay Alive...Let the Man Drive

Viking

#2
June 06, 2009, 08:05:24 AM
Praise the lord and pass the ammo?
First Maxim - "There are only two amounts, too few and enough."
First Corollary - "You cannot have too many soldiers, only too few supplies."
Second Maxim - "Be willing to exchange a bad idea for a good one."
Second Corollary - "You can only be wrong or agree with me."

A terrorist which starts a slaughter quoting Locke, Burke and Mill has completely missed the point.
The fact remains that the only person or group to applaud the Norway massacre are random Islamists.

Faeelin

#3
June 06, 2009, 09:21:11 AM
Pff. Don't they know that Jesus came with a sword, not a pistol?

Syt

#4
June 06, 2009, 09:37:58 AM
Quote from: Faeelin on June 06, 2009, 09:21:11 AM
Pff. Don't they know that Jesus came with a sword, not a pistol?

:rolleyes:
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Caliga

#5
June 06, 2009, 10:21:30 AM
 :cool:
0 Ed Anger Disapproval Points

Martinus

#6
June 06, 2009, 04:35:02 PM
QuoteHe said the point was not to mix worship with guns, though he may reference some passages from the Bible.

Didn't realise the Bible had passages about guns. :D

Slargos

#7
June 06, 2009, 04:36:30 PM
Quote from: Martinus on June 06, 2009, 04:35:02 PM
QuoteHe said the point was not to mix worship with guns, though he may reference some passages from the Bible.

Didn't realise the Bible had passages about guns. :D

:rolleyes:

Eisaiah 6:5 "THIS, is my BOOM stick."

Caliga

#8
June 06, 2009, 04:36:59 PM
Hm, maybe I'll go for the handgun raffle.  :)
0 Ed Anger Disapproval Points

Razgovory

#9
June 06, 2009, 04:37:31 PM
I bet the pastor in Kansas where the doc was shot would rather people not bring guns to church.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Slargos

#10
June 06, 2009, 04:42:54 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on June 06, 2009, 04:37:31 PM
I bet the pastor in Kansas where the doc was shot would rather people not bring guns to church.

If more people brought guns to church, the shooting could have been averted by shootign the shooter.  :rolleyes:

sbr

#11
June 06, 2009, 09:30:00 PM
He probably wouldn't have tried if he thought the other church-goers may have been armed.

Syt

#12
June 07, 2009, 01:05:36 AM
Quote from: Slargos on June 06, 2009, 04:36:30 PM
:rolleyes:

Eisaiah 6:5 "THIS, is my BOOM stick."

:yes:
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

DGuller

#13
June 07, 2009, 01:47:06 AM
Quote from: Slargos on June 06, 2009, 04:42:54 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on June 06, 2009, 04:37:31 PM
I bet the pastor in Kansas where the doc was shot would rather people not bring guns to church.

If more people brought guns to church, the shooting could have been averted by shootign the shooter.  :rolleyes:
I always hear this argument, and I wonder how it's supposed to work.  Does the bad guy agree to wear a black hat before he starts shooting?  If you're one of the yahoos with the gun, how do you know which of the other yahoos with the guns are the good guys when the shit hits the fan?  Police officers are trained, and yet they still shoot their off-duty comrades with some regularity when they pull a gun.
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