When we talk and write about respect for all life, we rarely mention the word “guns.” What do Catholics think about guns and how they fit into the conversation about respect for life?
As a nation, we must really love our guns because we own 50 percent of all the guns in the world. When it comes to our military, we give our wholehearted support and taxes for buying more guns.
We sacrifice many other needs – such as roads, health care, education and housing – to give priority to guns in our national budget.
Our defense industry sells guns to almost any other nation that wants them: good for our economy. And in the private sector, we hold aloft our constitutional right to own guns.
But let’s ask ourselves: what is the primary purpose of guns? Simply put, guns are for killing: war, murder, robbery, revenge, protection, etc. But isn’t killing contrary to respect for life? We hardly ever think or talk about the people being killed every day in war zones, many of them civilians.
We tell ourselves that having guns in our homes or on our person is a good way to protect ourselves, but in truth it is rare that a good guy with a gun actually prevents a bad guy from using his gun. Currently, with the many shootings of our children and others, how can we sit back and allow our leaders and ourselves to continue to worship our guns?
Kenneth Schammel lives in Cornelius.
In response to the Feb. 16 commentary “Pope’s suggested change to the Lord’s Prayer could harm the faithful,” I think a change in the wording of the Our Father in English will help, not harm the faithful. I am old enough to remember when we prayed “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”
The change in the language to “Holy Spirit” led to more clarity.
The mental image of God “leading us into temptation” is not helpful to Catholics and is a theologically inaccurate image of God.
In Spanish, the language of the Our Father already says, “Let us not fall into temptation.”
Mercy Sister Rose Marie Tresp lives in Belmont.