David French, senior counsel at Pat Robertson’s American Center for Law and Justice (whom we’ve met before), adds his voice in a recent article to the chorus of those using religious language to oppose gun control. French uses the context of “self defense” to justify his views. He starts by quoting National Cathederal’s Gary Hall:
“Everyone in this city seems to live in terror of the gun lobby . . . but I believe that the gun lobby is no match for the cross lobby.”
French then proceeds to quote a number of biblical quotes endorsing self defense from the Old Testament. When it comes to the New Testament, he adds this:
In fact, Jesus’s disciples carried swords, and Jesus even said in some contexts the unarmed should arm themselves.
Of course, someone might say in a religion that preaches “turning the other cheek” and “loving your enemy”, the instruction to be armed is a little bit of a contradiction…but we’ll let that go for now. French concludes:
In other words, I don’t think Reverend Hall should be so confident that the “cross lobby” is on his side.
French’s attack on Hall showcases my main argument against liberal religion. Through playing up the religious language and naming the bible as the source of morality, moderates like Hall open the door to extremists like French. Which is why I call the likes of Gary Hall “enablers”.
