Island’s Presbyterian Church urges ban on civilian use of assault weapons

When Reverend Stephen Fearing’s wife popped her head into the bathroom while he was showering on the morning of June 12 to tell him there had been another mass shooting, the pastor of the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church’s first response was a shrug.

His nonchalant reaction woke him up to the realization that mass shootings have become so routine in recent years that people have lost the capacity to be shocked.

Reverend Fearing spoke about it from the pulpit that Sunday morning, asking his parishioners to join in prayer for the victims, their families and the Orlando community.

But that wasn’t enough, Reverend Fearing said. It’s why he was back in the pulpit last Sunday to tell the congregates that while he values the power of prayer, “thoughts and prayers are not enough.”

He asked the congregation again to remember and pray for those members of the LGBT community and others who died, those in the larger Orlando community, Muslims who are being subjected to prejudice and for the politicians in whose hands decisions about gun control lies.

But he also asked his parishoners to act.

“We, the church, find our nation’s idolatrous obsession with guns to be antithetical to God’s intention for peace and justice,” Reverend Fearing said. “Silence on the church’s part is equally antithetical to God’s call for us to be instruments of peace and justice.”

He called for a nationwide ban on assault weapons, saying it’s “a travesty” that it’s easier to purchase assault weapons than to access affordable mental health care.

He also decried that a disproportional number of victims of gun violence are members of racial and ethnic minorities.

After his sermon, he asked the church Session, a governing board of nine elders, to endorse his stand — a move they took  Tuesday night. The Session voted to make the church a gun-free zone, allowing only police to carry weapons there.

That has actually been a policy at the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church since last year when the elders approved a “Child Protection Policy.”

Reverend Fearing told the Reporter he understands why  Island residents — with no bridges to connect them to the North or South forks— might feel safe and removed from  violence,  and also understands those who think the church shouldn’t be political.

But Jesus was political, Reverend Fearing said, and we live in a global world where everyone is connected.

That’s why he spoke politically in his sermon Sunday, reminding parishioners of the church motto: “As we believe, so we do.”

Reverend Fearing is from Dalton, Georgia, a southern community where most people stand fast on the right to own firearms. His family didn’t have guns in the house, he said, but many he knew did. He’s not opposed to Second Amendment protections, but noted that when it was written, people were using muskets, not military-grade assault weapons.

“The capability of such mass destruction was simply nonexistent at the time the amendment was created,” Reverend Fearing said.

He called on all Islanders to call or write their Congressional representatives, regardless of party affiliations or political philosophies, asking them to advocate for stricter gun laws, including a ban on all assault weapons in civilian hands.

“We believe the church to be a prophetic witness of peace,” Reverend Fearing said.

Last Sunday, when parishners make their offerings, the money went to the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Gun Violence Fund that helps families with funeral expenses; supports emotional and spiritual care for church leaders; and provides resources to help communities recover from atrocities such as Orlando.

The Session invites all Islanders to contribute to the fund either by sending tax-deductible contributions to Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 612, Shelter Island, New York 11964 with the memo line on checks:“PDA Gun Violence Fund,” or make contributions through other organizations supporting similar efforts.