Gun-loving pastor to his flock: Piece be with you (bring your guns to church)

[Tab]

Source: AP

LOUISVILLE, 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."
...
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."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090604/ap_on_re_us/us_guns...

[bluedeminredstate]

1. There are no words...

Really, what can be said when people are this nuts? I'd like to ask this "pastor" "What would Jesus pack?"

[pkdu]

2. My thoughts as I read this exactly! n/t

[Ian David]

3. So we’re goin on down to the gun sale at the church...

Gun Sale at the Church
Topic started by IanDB1 on Jul-12-08 06:48 PM (3 replies)
Last modified by Wickerman on Jul-12-08 10:37 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...



Let’s pack up the kids, take a break, get away
Leave the hustle and bustle of livin’ from day to day
Well I know that the crime in the city is gettin worse
So we’re goin on down to the gun sale at the church

Well my baby’s all set gonna have us a real good time
Baby Johnny’s got fins but he don’t seem to mind
Well the family’s all ready to pray at the holy perch
That’s set up in the middle of the gun sale at the church

We’ll ask the lord to forgive us of all our sins
And we’ll look at the latest in gold plated firin’ pins
My two main men are Jesus and old John Birch
So we’re goin on down to the gun sale at the church

[Wickerman]

7. LOL, beat me to it

but thanks for the reference. RIP Buddy, and Country Dick, too, while we're at it.

edit, and in my previous post, back when, that was Blue. Slippage.

[ddiver]

4. .

[pleah]

5. Oh, now isn't that a smart idea?!

Glad to have you back, Tab.

[Libertas1776]

6. Piss off the wrong parishioner

and he'll be swiss cheese.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

15. Because that happens where people carry firearms all the time right?

[WestSeattle2]

8. Assembly of God. Enough said.

[Joe Bacon]

26. With the emphasis on ASSemblies of Gawd

After all, their real "God" they worship is Ayn as in Mine Rand!

[glinda]

9. I am speechless.

[jakefrep]

10. Will the guys who pass around the collection plate be packing?

Sounds like a shakedown for extra tithe money.

[bertman]

11. Gawd blast Amerka!

[Serge A Storms]

12. GOD ,GUNS , and GUTS ......Right ?

[bertman]

13. Indeed. FAR RIGHT.

[ladym55]

14. And because "responsible gun owners" are invited

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

hmmm ....

And what WOULD Jesus pack?

[AllentownJake]

16. I'm no Bible Scholar

but I distinctly remember Jesus telling Peter live by the sword die by the sword when I read the New Testament.

[Arkana]

19. But what you didn't see

was that Jesus then turned around, raised a pair of TEC-9s, and said. "Let us blast on some fools, my brothers!"

[xchrom]

17. oy

[Arkana]

18. Praise the Lawd and pass the ammunition!

[irislake]

20. Nothing surprises me any more.

I am seventy years old and surprise proof. At last.

[NinetySix]

21. Yet another case of "unclear on the concept."

I can still hear the echo of Jerry Falwell's exhortations to "blow them away in the name of the Lord."

[struggle4progress]

22. ... Posters advertising the event contain blood spatterings ...

Church Asks People to Bring Guns to Upcoming Event
06/04/2009
http://www.churchsolutionsmag.com/hotnews/church-asks-p...

[donheld]

23. Can't we just go back to snake handling?

[depakid]

24. What a freak

Then again, nothing American fundies do surprises me anymore.

[charlie]

25. It pains some people to ever, ever, ever be apart from their guns

I wonder where he puts it when he's boinking his wife. In his buttcrack?

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

27. The band Cracker had a song called "Can I Take my Gun up to Heaven?"

looks like satire has become reality

[GoddessOfGuinness]

28. Bless this gun,

Bless this gun, O Lord we pray,
Make it bust a gut by night and day . . .

Bless these bullets firm and stout,
Kicking ass when villains are out . . .

Bless the forestock, smooth and tall,
Let thy piece lie overall . . .

Bless this lock that it may prove,
Ever open to the carnage we love . . .

Bless this trigger shining bright,
Letting in God's wrath-filled light,
Bless the barrel shining there,
With smoke ascending like a prayer!

Bless the folk who dwell within,
When they fight please let them win . . .

Bless us all that we may be,
Fit O Lord to kill for thee . . .

Bless us all that one day we may dwell,
O Lord! With Thee!