The Episcopal Church in Michigan — which includes the areas of Lansing and Jackson — voted to crack down on Second Amendment rights via a resolution at the 180th convention of the Episcopal Diocese.
Specifically, the resolution — which passed with a large majority — expresses favor for universal background checks for all gun buys and for bans on all sales of decreed semiautomatic weapons and high-impact, high-capacity ammunition and magazines, the Detroit Free Press reported. The resolution also calls to make gun trafficking a federal crime.
“We … stand for public policies to ban violence and assault weapons,” the resolution stated, the Detroit Free Press reported. “Access to guns with rapid fire ability and high capacity magazines are a common, deadly ingredient in … repeated killings.”
The resolution isn’t policy, but it could prove influential with policy-makers. The Detroit Free Press reported that the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan was created in 1836 — a fully year before the state was even established.
“We work to bring God’s peace to the world,” said the Rev. Chris Yaw, the rector of St. David’s Episcopal Church in Southfield, the Detroit Free Press reported. “God’s kingdom is not of violence — it’s of peace.”
But critics say the resolution conflicts with the Constitution’s Second Amendment.
“Passing an inherently political resolution … does absolutely nothing to proclaim the glory of God and bring new people to the pews of churches,” said Dennis Lennox, a member of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Detroit, the Detroit Free Press reported. “I wish churches … would focus on being a house of prayer for all people, instead of becoming extensions of political movements and parties.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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