If you’re a political cynic and skeptic about the official version of the Sandy Hook massacre, who harbor even the tiniest suspicion that it might be a “false flag” event to advance a covert agenda, you will find this news of interest. (For reasons to be skeptical, see FOTM’s posts on Sandy Hook by going to our “Internet Rumors” page.)
A non-scientific poll of U.S. Evangelical church leaders finds that a majority of them now favor some form of gun control. Although the poll is non-scientific, and thus non-representative and the results cannot be generalized to all U.S. Evangelical leaders, even less to Christians who call themselves evangelicals, the findings surely will be used by the gun-control advocates to buttress their position.
Stoyan Zaimov reports for the Christian Post, Jan. 11, 2013, that the majority of Evangelical Christian leaders in America now support stricter gun regulations following December’s tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where 20 young children and 6 adults were fatally shot.
In a poll conducted by the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), 73% of church leaders agreed that there needs to be stricter gun regulations, in hopes that tragedies, such as the ones that occurred in Newtown, can be prevented or minimized in the future.
NAE president Leith Anderson said: “Evangelicals are pro-life and deeply grieve when any weapons are used to take innocent lives. The evangelical leaders who responded to the NAE survey support the Second Amendment right to bear arms but also want our laws to prevent the slaughter of children.”
In an email to The Christian Post, Anderson added that there are many possible reasons for America’s gun violence crisis: “They include sin in our society, violent video games, political polarization, gun availability, mental illness and many more. There are many reasons and some validity to most of them. Vice President Biden is suggesting that an immediate and major research effort seek to find primary causes so that we can tackle the problem. Until that research is reported we should engage in a robust conversation about the causes and do what we can to stop the violence.”
Of the 27% of respondents to the NAE poll who did not see stricter gun control as the solution, most said that gun control alone cannot stop incidents like the Sandy Hook school shooting. Phil Whipple, Bishop of the United Brethren in Christ, said, “I would not oppose a ban on assault weapons. However, I don’t see this as an action that would eradicate the kinds of violent acts that occurred in Newtown.”
The Evangelical Leaders Survey is a monthly non-scientific poll of the NAE Board of Directors, for which the organization says it does not release raw data.
~Eowyn
