Following the murder of 19 students and 2 teachers in the Uvalde school shooting, leftist evangelical thought leaders politicized the tragedy in an effort to push universal background checks and other gun control legislation. While many Texas state leaders have called for their constituents to pray for the families of the victims, shameless political clown Beto O’Rourke raided a press conference that was focused on the tragedy, in a publicity stunt that will likely backfire at the polls in November. A number of evangelical thought leaders made incoherent comments about guns, including SBC Presidential contender Bart Barber.
Not to be outdone by pagans like Beto O’Rourke, or ignorant evangelical institutionalists like Bart Barber, TGC author Charlie Dates has taken up the mantle of anti-gun activism in the name of being “pro-life”. Dates published a rambling pro-gun-control piece in Christianity Today, the rag to which leftists like Russell Moore run when they want to publish an article that would be better suited for a leftist secular news source like the Washington Compost. Simply add a little Christianese to leftist talking points, and voilà, secular thought is baptized in the waters of a “Christian Magazine”.
Talking About Chicago Gun Deaths Is Racist
Dates calls republican references to gun violence in Chicago a racist “dog whistle”. According to Dates, white evangelicals should not discuss gun violence in Chicago, because they don’t care about black lives lost.
“In short, I think you should leave Chicago’s name out of your mouth until you understand the forces that shape this city. We are not your rhetorical whipping boy, trotted out for another session of mockery that serves your political ends. We are not your minstrel show, played on repeat on your news channels as a way to reinforce tropes about the inherent dangerousness of Black people. We see what you are doing and name it for what it is: racism. We know that you do not actually care about the Black lives lost to gun violence here. If you did, you wouldn’t use dead Black boys and girls as a political tool. You would see their tragic deaths as a catalyst for action.”
According to Dates, white people who reference Chicago in their arguments are involved in a sinister plot that involves using “dead black boys and girls as a political tool.” Such an argument attempts to equate the deaths of children in the Texas school shooting with shooting deaths in Chicago. Dates ignores the huge difference between the deaths of schoolchildren in Texas and gang-related shootings in Chicago. The children in Uvalde, Texas didn’t deserve to be murdered. While all death is lamentable, many of the “boys” and “girls” who have died in Chicago were willing participants in the gang war culture of Chicago which glorifies crime and murder as a way of life. They live with one foot in the grave. Chicago pastors should place their focus on confronting wicked aspects of their city’s gang culture, rather than blaming white Christians for not advocating gun control measures (i.e., take the cannonball out of your own eye before trying to remove the BB from your brother’s eye).
Blame Republican States
Dates proceeds to blame the lax gun laws of Republican states that surround Illinois for the crime that takes place in Chicago. Instead of blaming Chicago gangs for rampant violence in the city of Chicago, leftists like Dates prefer to place blame on all of the surrounding states that have lax gun laws. Never mind the fact that the border states with more lax gun laws have a much lower crime rate than Chicago itself. According to Dates, Chicago is beholden to its neighbors.
“Chicago is a border colony. Illinois is a gun-restrictive state. Studies have shown that nearly 60 percent of guns connected to crimes in Chicago arrive through Republican states. The loose privileges of others have a direct, negative, and destructive effect on us.”
According to the study linked to Dates’ article, the death by firearm rate for black children is more than four times that of white children. Blaming Indiana for Chicago’s gun violence is equivalent to blaming the United States for gun violence in Mexico. A large number of guns are smuggled across the border from the United States to Mexico, by Mexican criminals who break many laws in the process. The vast majority of these guns are purchased by drug cartels. The United States is not responsible for gun violence in Mexico. The drug cartels are to blame for smuggling guns and committing murders. In the same way, the gangs of Chicago are to blame for gun violence in the city. Criminals will commit crimes with complete disregard for the law, and that is why they are criminals in the first place.
Adopt Leftist Policies or You Can’t Call Yourself Pro-Life
Dates joins other left-leaning evangelicals, who say that those who claim to be pro-life must promote a litany of government-funded social projects, supporting individuals who are born from conception to death. Apparently, pro-lifers must support increased funding for government childhood indoctrination centers, free government healthcare, and pledge themselves to Marxist organizations like Black Lives Matter; in order to be considered truly pro-life.
“We have waited for you to use your influence to lobby Congress for better school funding, access to quality health care, and food security. We have waited for you to denounce the alt-right racism that made a playboy a president. We have waited for you to declare that our lives matter.”
Social Gospel Pushes Aside the True Gospel
Asserting that white evangelicals who point out the gun violence of Chicago know nothing about the “hard work of pastors and religious leaders on the ground” in Chicago, Dates lists several organizations and individuals that work to decrease violence through Social Gospel work. Among these individuals is James Meeks, the executive vice president of Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Push Coalition.
“If you talk about Chicago, talk about James Meeks and the Salem Baptist Church of Chicago, which decreased violence by voting their neighborhood dry for two decades.”
James Meeks’ strategy to end alcoholism in his community mirrors Charlie Dates’ strategy to end gun violence. Meeks focuses on the evils of those who supply alcohol to alcoholics, and Dates’ focuses on the so-called evils of gun store owners in states that surround Illinois. All of these strategies push aside the true Gospel of Jesus, as anti-gun Social Gospel advocates seek to build an ecumenical coalition of churches to push their social agenda. In advocating for Meeks as a pro-life success story, Dates promotes an individual who serves as an executive for Rainbow Push Coalition, an organization that promotes race-baiting, abortion rights, big government globalist agenda items, and a false social Gospel narrative.
Perhaps Chicago is not the only thing that should be left out of people’s mouths.
