OPED by Rev. Richard L. Tafel
Church of the Holy City
We are all heartbroken by the mass killing in Texas this week as we still mourn the killings in Buffalo. I found the prayer below by the archbishop of west Texas spoke to me and my prayers at this time. I also am on the board of Citizen’s University a secular organization. I appreciated President Eric Liu’s comments and put this in our newsletter as well.
A few of you have emailed or text me about this, so let me share my thoughts.
When faced which such a horrible act of evil, we often seek simple answers. While I understand the position gun owners have in our country, I think the refusal to ban combat weapons and enforce greater age restrictions is an act of incredible selfishness. We need a bipartisan movement to address the availability of guns in our society.
But restricting guns is part of a complex problem. We face a spiritual crisis where a generation of young men are growing up susceptible to evil in ways we have not seen before. Our failure as a society to offer meaning, community, and spiritual connection to our rising generation also contributes to these moments of horror.
There are policy and spiritual issues that need to be addressed in tandem. The stress of these acts leads us to seek simple answers and clear villains. The question for us is what can our community do to play some role in working against this evil trend? It won’t be simple but we need to act.
Peace,
Rich[/fusion_text][/one_full]
