Can guns and God go together?
One church in America says yes, they can. In fact, the Rocky Mount United Methodist Church in Jemison, Alabama, has built its own gun range at the back of the place of worship to attract more members, CBN News reported.
And the church says it is succeeding in its avowed objective as it attracts more visitors, including women, senior citizens, law enforcement officers and members of church security teams who pray and then practice target shooting.
Even gun-wielding elderly women are using the gun range, herself included, said grandmother and Glock owner Charlotte Powell. "So many of our church family members are elderly ladies," she told CBN News.
"They have weapons in their home, but either their husband has long since passed or they never got around to learning how to fire them. And anybody who knows anything about guns knows that the biggest danger is when you're unfamiliar with the weapon," Powell explained.
Charlotte's son Mike Powell said they're also trying to attract more young people to the church.
"Earlier, y'all saw me shooting with a young man. He's never held a real live pistol in his hand," Mike said. "These youth can come to us and learn to shoot a firearm, but learn to shoot it in a very controlled, very safe environment. And, you know, maybe we can get them to come back and come to church with us."
However, not everyone agrees that mixing guns and God is a good idea.
"There's a deep ethical and moral question here: and that is, when is a Christian permitted to kill another human being? And under what circumstances?" said Rev. Rob Schenck, a Washington, D.C.-based pastor. "And any church that is going to introduce firearms into the life of that church has to address that question."
Schenck said there's something wrong if Christians who value human life train other people to kill as a way of bringing the gospel to them.
"If we are pro-life and respect the sanctity of all human life, then we probably shouldn't use training to kill as a first step in introducing the gospel," he said. "The Bible says even the life of our enemy is of value to God — that we are to love our enemies, as God loves them. This issue has moral, spiritual, ethical and I think gospel implications."
But Deanna Vann, one of the shooters at the gun range, sees nothing wrong with teaching people proper ways to defend themselves.
"Somebody breaks into your house, what are you going to do? Hit 'em with a broom?" Vann asked.
