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<\/a><\/p>\n\n\nPerkins isn\u2019t wrong in connecting religion to gun violence. But rather than a deeper embrace of his organization\u2019s mission \u201cto advance faith, family and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview,\u201d what the country needs is a broad recognition of the way some are distorting sacred scripture and religious tradition so as to fuel violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Addressing America\u2019s gun violence crisis is a daunting and necessary task. An average of 43,375 people are shot to death every year, and the number is increasing rapidly. Between 2012 and 2021 the number of gun deaths increased by 39 percent, with gun violence now being the leading cause of death for children and teens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is both tragic and deeply disturbing is the extent to which religion \u2014 or, more accurately, the distortion of religion \u2014 is contributing to this epidemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christian nationalism is the belief that the U.S. is chosen by God to be a Christian nation and was founded to be a Christian nation, and so our civic life and Christianity should be fused together. Connected to white supremacy, nativism, patriarchy and the like, this ideology envisions Jesus not as the humble Israelite who turned the other cheek and washed his disciples\u2019 feet, but as a broad-shouldered white man with thick biceps and a sword (or if one had been available at the time, an AR-15) at his hip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A February 2020 survey by Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, authors of \u201cThe Flag and the Cross,\u201d asked a sample of people to respond to the statements: \u201cThe federal government should declare the United States a Christian nation,\u201d and \u201cThe federal government should enact stricter gun laws.\u201d They found that two-thirds of the white Americans who strongly agreed with the first statement also disagreed with the second. Adding religion into the mix, a 2019-2021 survey by the same people found evangelical Christians to rank higher on indicators of Christian nationalism. Analysis by political scientist Ryan Burge of data from the 2020 Cooperative Election Study found that two-thirds of white evangelicals own guns. This compares to one-quarter of mainline Protestants and Latter-day Saints, 17 percent of nonwhite evangelicals and atheists, 11 percent of Jews,and 9 percent of Muslims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n