‘The Armor of Light’ Explores Connection Between Guns and Religion
In the wake of a recent shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, the gun debate is back in the spotlight with politicians front and center. For Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, the shooting became the tipping point for making gun safety a central theme of her campaign.
A new film by Abigail E. Disney, “The Armor of Light,” explores the close connection between guns and religion through the eyes of Evangelical Minister Reverend Rob Schenck and Lucy McBath, the mother of Jordan Davis, an unarmed teen shot and killed in 2012 by a man that used the “Stand Your Ground” law as his defense when he felt threatened by Davis’ loud music.
McBath turned the tragedy of losing her son into a crusade to change gun laws in order to protect innocent lives. In the film she meets with Rev. Schenck to discuss her mission and ask for his help.
“A mother’s loss to that degree was so potent for the telling and for me a pro-life activist for the last 30 years and it spoke to the core of my convictions on the sanctity of human life that’s the appeal Lucy made to me, we need your voice now more than ever,” said Rev. Rob Schenck.
Schenck says pastors and all religious leaders must address the gun issue publicly because he says the Second Amendment right to bear arms is becoming more important than the Second Commandment: thou shall not kill.
“The Second Amendment gives us the right to bear arms but it says nothing about the moral implications the morality of that that you look to the Bible for,” said Schenck.
Schenck and McBath both agree their cause is not about taking away Second Amendment rights but starting a new dialogue in the gun culture.
“The gun becomes the powerful voice the gun becomes the God replacing God and we are in such dangerous times when people believe that their guns is the thing that will protect them and save them instead of righteously looking to God as the protector ,” said McBath, who is a spokesperson for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
Rev. Schenck says the film is an invitation to explore a new conversation about guns that is prayerful with resolution coming from a moral place instead of a legal one. The reverend and McBath agree the goal is to push both religious and political leaders to examine their conscience on gun violence in America.
“What will be your accountability to the community that you serve? What is going to be your moral responsibility in keeping them safe, in keeping the guns out of the hands of individuals that should not have them? What are you going to do morally and in the deep recesses of your conscience are you willing to do what you know is right?” said McBath.
“The Armor of Light” opens in select cities around the country on Friday, October 30. The film is offering National Rifle Association members free tickets to see the film.
The NRA did not immediately respond to FOXBusiness.com’s request for comment.