Tuesday, July 1, 2014

A Tale Of Two Churches: Navigating Georgia’s New Gun Law

From Georgia-

“God put this in our path for a reason and for us to figure out where our priorities are. Our priority includes church, so that's not in question. What it also includes is you know, is having certain freedoms not curtailed and not decided for us."

Daniel asked GPB not to use his last name. He worries speaking out on such a controversial law could cost him his job. He and his family stopped going to their church about two months ago. That’s when Bishop Robert Wright of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta announced that the 109 parishes he leads would not welcome firearms.

“I saw this as a wonderful opportunity to talk about what it means to be a follower of Jesus in the 21st Century,” says Wright. “Even though permission has been given to have guns everywhere, that stops for us at the sanctuary. This is a gun-free zone.”

Bishop Wright says even though he was active in lobbying against the gun bill this spring, this was not a political decision, but one based on faith. The Bishop calls this a “respectful disagreement” with state lawmakers and even other Christians.

“We know that there are people who this has been a tough conversation for them and some people are choosing to leave, though these have been very isolated incidents. I can tell you what I have heard. I’ve heard that more people are wanting to come to the Episcopal Church now, because of the stance.” 


More here-

http://www.gpb.org/news/2014/06/30/a-tale-of-two-churches-navigating-georgia’s-new-gun-law

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