The past Christmas holiday period in the USA was dominated by two events – the so-called fiscal cliff negotiations and the reaction to the shooting of primary school children in Sandy Cove, writes Houston McKelvey.
The sight of the Stars and Stripes flying at half mast at Dulles airport, Washington, was the first symbol of mourning I saw for the children when I arrived on December 17. It also brought home to me that I seem to have the uncanny knack over the years of being in the USA at critical times. These include former President Carter bringing home the Iranian hostages, the inauguration of President Reagan and on a return visit to Washington in a matter of weeks afterwards, his attempted assassination. At such a time one is confronted with the remarkably short history of the USA where, for example, the assassination attempt on Reagan was quickly related to those of Lincoln, Kennedy and others.
Having been in Chicago over the period of the outbreak of the first Gulf War, one observed how close to the surface was the visceral scar of divisions over Vietnam. A visit to the most impressive US Marine Corps museum at Quantico last Saturday – a modern cathedral of the Corps ethos and heroes – brought home once again the immense cost the USA has been prepared to pay in defending its concepts of freedom in its short history. There is a remarkable ignorance in Europe of the cost the US paid in the Pacific in World War 2, or in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Consequently assessment of the gun issue is set against different societal values.
The manner of political power checks and balances on Capitol Hill with their necessary diverse lines of communication with the White House were seen in their fullness over Christmas and the New Year. One of the negative results is that some of the essential crunch decisions have been deferred rather than being dealt with. The postponing of a decision on relief to the hard hit communities around New York until last week was in similar vein. I have some sympathy with those in the UK who commented afterwards that in respect of the fiscal cliff differences, a greater demonstration against an elected upper house at Westminster would be difficult to find.
The common use of the English language, the impact of the film industry with its inherent myths, and the nature of modern news communication in and from the USA can lull fellow English speakers on the eastern coasts of the Atlantic in Ireland and Britain into feeling that they can readily read the developments in that great nation. This also can affect members of the Anglican Communion in these islands in our impressions of The Episcopal Church – more of which anon.
During the autumn (fall?), over Christmas and the New Year, the Episcopal Church was heavily involved in responding to large areas of storm damage, the shootings in Connecticut, and dragging along side these is an ongoing number of legal disputes over the ownership of church property where a few bishops and congregation have broken away from the discipline and oversight of The Episcopal Church.
In this short series of observations, I choose to start with the issue of gun-owning. Few outside the USA have any great appreciation of the different interpretations of that country’s constitution when it comes to the “right” to have and bear arms – based as it is on the concept of a citizen’s militia emerging from the period of the War of Independence. There is also the basic principle of federalism which affects this issue. There is an almost visible schism in an attitude which manages to proclaim pride in the USA with a distrust of its central government.
The statistics of murder by guns in the USA is beyond rationalisation or understanding – and that is from one who saw close up and personal more than enough of violence on home soil. Almost half of my visits to the USA have been to Chicago where I have spent more time than in any USA city. I love the place, its diversities of culture and the people, but it does not obscure from me the fact that over 500 people were murdered there last year.
I was impressed at the response of the churches around Sandy Cove and of the leadership provided by the local Episcopal bishops and rector.
Since that terrible event local churches in various places have been making a joint stand of witness against the gun culture. There also has been an on-going critique by some clerical writers and scholars.
A local paper in West Virginia – the Charleston Gazette – highlighted the profile of the growing push for stricter gun control legislation emanating from U. S. churches.
It reported, “Some Charleston churches, such as historic St. John’s Episcopal, are pondering a call for U.S. congregations to unite in a nationwide crusade — against the “cult” of guns that idolizes weaponry, causing 30,000 U.S. violent deaths each year.
“The crusade is based on a new book, America and its Guns, by retired Presbyterian pastor James Atwood, published just before the Connecticut school massacre. The book says U.S. politicians won’t protect American families from gun murder, so churches across the nation should join in a mass movement for gun safety.
“Gun-lovers are more than just shooting fans, the book alleges — they actually worship weapons like members of a cult. The minister-author says America’s “Gun Empire” is rooted in shoot-’em-down video games, violent movies and toy guns cherished by American boys. The cult has more than 5,000 U.S. assemblies per year: gun shows drawing throngs.”
The book was reviewed by the Rev. Rick Barger, an Episcopal priest who tended victims of the 1999 Columbine school massacre. Writing in “Congregations” magazine he presents these stark facts:
“In the 17-year period between 1979 and 1997, there were 651,697 deaths by guns in America. This is more than the number of all U.S. servicemen and women who have died in all of our wars since 1775. The belief in guns and their proliferation is such that a child in the United States is 12 times more likely to die from a gunshot wound than in 25 other industrial nations combined. Between 1997 and 2007, there were 41 separate school shootings in the United States — Columbine plus 40 others.”
(The priest’s math may be faulty, since more than 600,000 Americans died in the Civil War — but his conclusion about the terrible U.S. gun toll is on-target.)
In commissioning Vice President Joe Biden to bring forward proposals to deal with this tragic ongoing aspect of US life, President Obama could not have chosen better. His VP knows the realities of life on Capitol Hill. He is a shrewd and adept communicator to the public. The task is immense and the opponents are well equipped to exercise political influence on the local Congressman who has to fight every two years for re-election, and to the Senate as well as the House. The gun lobby is one of the most well oiled, financed and maintained lobbying group.
It is obvious to all except those who do not want to see that there will be another Sandy Cove. It is some 15 years since I saw a school in a reasonably affluent area of Dallas with roads signs proclaiming that the site was not just drugs free, but gun free.
The Charleston Gazette posed these questions to its readers – “Is America’s gun obsession a cult? Do passionate owners worship their weapons? Will some church congregations mobilize for safeguards that politicians have failed to provide? Will the horrifying Connecticut massacre of first-graders finally seize America’s conscience forcefully enough to trigger a national attitude change? Or will Americans soon forget, and do nothing?”
The churches in the USA who are challenging the gun culture would appreciate our prayers.
Houston McKelvey
PS – The flags were flying at full hoist when we left Dulles on Sunday last.