Presbyterians React to Church’s Advice Against Guns in the Home

For Presbyterians like the Rev. Frank Alton, the call by leaders of his denomination for members to remove handguns and assault weapons from their homes and communities makes sound biblical sense.

“It’s good to start with your own house,” said Alton, pastor at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in downtown Los Angeles.

Pastors and churchgoers in Los Angeles County on Sunday mostly voiced support for the request, made several days ago by leaders of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

“We have a deep concern about recent school shootings,” said the Rev. Daryl Fisher-Ogden, associate pastor at Bel-Air Presbyterian. “We’re struggling to find a way to stop wanton violence.”

Fisher-Ogden was one of 393 out of 560 delegates at the church’s annual General Assembly in Charlotte, N.C., who voted for the resolution calling on Presbyterians “to intentionally work toward removing handguns and assault weapons from our homes and our communities.”

Though the resolution is not mandatory for Presbyterians, it marks a major shift in how organized religion has dealt with the issue. For decades, religious groups have called for gun control legislation rather than recommend individual action by their members.

Few churchgoers on Sunday said they owned guns, and few disagreed with the argument that guns contribute to violence. But some had reservations about the call from their leaders.

“Personally, I don’t keep a gun in the home,” said Bel-Air member Mike Mizrahi, a father of two teenagers. “But . . . I don’t think it’s something that the church should weigh in on. There’s a fairly strong separation of church and state.”

Christine Jorgensen agreed. Sitting outside the church, she tended to her fidgety 15-month-old daughter.

“I respect church guidance, but I don’t want it to go too far,” she said, adding that she does not own a gun. “I don’t want the church to be like the [Southern] Baptists, who tell their members to boycott Disneyland.”

For Jeff Brown, however, the resolution is a clear extension of biblical teaching.

“It’s a well-appreciated concern,” said Brown, 54. “Thou shalt not kill is one of the Ten Commandments.”

In downtown Los Angeles, those interviewed agreed that the church should involve itself with important issues such as gun control.

“The church has to be involved in the same way in the political life of the country as it is in the religious life,” said Ricardo Moreno, a seminary student interning at Immanuel Presbyterian Church.

But there were doubts about whether the resolution would have much of an effect on gun violence.

“It’s not the churchgoers with guns who concern me. It is the fact you can go down to skid row and find a gun for 25 bucks,” said Bob Buck outside Immanuel Presbyterian Church. “This is more symbolism than anything else.”

Next month, Fisher-Ogden and other delegates around the country will explain to local elders the decisions made at this year’s General Assembly. Posters urging discussions about guns will later be designed and distributed among churches.

Though they will have the advice of their religious leaders, Presbyterian gun owners will then be on their own to decide whether to follow it.

And that means the issue of gun control is unlikely to be resolved soon, though that is not necessarily a bad thing, said the Rev. John Payne, pastor at St. Stephen Presbyterian Church in Chatsworth.

“The church is a place to talk about tough issues from a Christian perspective. And then we can go out to lunch afterward,” Payne said with a laugh.