There's No Safe Place in America!

When I look back at my childhood, I can remember my parents telling me, "You don't want to go into that neighborhood. It's dangerous over there." I can also remember them pointing out suspicious looking individuals and making sure that I knew who was a potential threat. I don't ever remember having a discussion like this in the mall, the schools, K-Mart, Walmart, McDonalds, or church. And now, that's exactly where the threat is. We can pretend like we don't see it but it's all over the news. Violence at the movies. Violence at the fast food joints. Violence at the shopping areas. And now, violence in the church.

Come on, violence at the church. What the hell is going on in America? Do you remember watching the old gangster movies growing up. Places of worship were the one sacred area where violence just seemed to not happen. I can recall several movies where when the bad guys went into church, this is where the foolishness stopped. There was no shooting in the church. There was no killing in the church. This was holy ground. Folks had to leave the sanctuary and even the church grounds before any violence took place... But look at America now. The doors of the church are open... And the scum of the earth are coming in. Our society now has to accept that we need armed security at the church. We need armed security at our schools. We now need to consider we need armed security at all public places. But even that is not enough.

I hate talking about Texas but I just don't understand what's going on there. In December of 2019, a gunman named Keith Thomas Kinnunen killed two church members of the West Freeway Church of Christ on a Sunday morning. The killing stopped when a church security officer named Jack Wilson took action and killed Keith Kinnumen. So many things about this story are sickening it's hard to know where to start. Apparently, the shooter had been welcomed into the church and had repeatedly asked for money. There are stories that indicate that he may have even received some help from the church. Perhaps the most disturbing is that the whole incident was captured on video. I watched it just one time. It was hard to watch. It was senseless violence. A man takes out a long gun and shoots two men for no reason then gets shot by security... Just as disturbing is to watch other church members coming up after the shoot out with their guns drawn ready to shoot some more if necessary. And all of this is recorded. It's been broadcast all over social media and the news.

But, this is not the beginning of the story. In 2017, Devin Patrick Kelley senselessly shot and killed 26 people at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. This event led to a change in Texas law which now states that it is legal to carry a fire arm into church. I guess those movies we used to watch where violence just will not take place on holy ground are nothing more than fiction now. I'm trying to make this right in my mind. Their calling Mr. Wilson a hero for shooting Mr. Kinnumen but I feel like he's a victim... like all the other attending members of the West Freeman Church of Christ that morning. Who would want to bear witness to the senseless killing of people gathered in prayer? Who would want to have to draw their weapon in the House of God to kill a man?

I wonder what the sermon was about that morning. Was it about giving to the poor? Or, was it about the Ten Commandments? Or was it about Revelations?