In the wake of mass shootings, many faith leaders do far more than offer thoughts and prayers.

Increasingly, they organize rallies, lobby politicians and even invest in gun manufacturers in order to play an active role in limiting access to guns.

These efforts are controversial, since gun control is a highly politicized issue. But recent attacks on houses of worship give religious communities a powerful reason to address gun violence.

This edition of ReligionLink explores the religious response to recent mass shootings, highlighting unique developments such as the appointment of a gun violence pastor. These articles and experts will help you reflect on current gun control debates through the lens of faith.

Background reading

• Read “Clergy protest outside Mitch McConnell’s office, demand action on gun violence” from Religion News Service on Aug. 6, 2019. 
• Read “Religious leaders react to mass shootings, call for action from Trump, Congress” from Religion News Service on Aug. 5, 2019. 
• Read “New massacres a jolt for clergy who coped with past attacks” from The Associated Press on Aug. 5, 2019. 
• Read “‘Thoughts and prayers’ aren’t enough, America’s first gun violence minister says” from The New York Times on July 28, 2019. 
• Read “Episcopal Church as shareholder takes initial steps toward direct advocacy with gun manufacturers” from Episcopal News Service on July 25, 2019. 
• Read “A year after Parkland, how churches nationwide are using big investment dollars to drive gun safety” from Forbes on Feb. 19, 2019. 
• Read “Why some Christians don’t believe in gun control: They think God handed down the Second Amendment” from The Washington Post on July 25, 2018. 
• Read “Urged by their youth, faith groups flocked to the March for Our Lives” from Religion News Service on March 24, 2018. 
• Read “Religious communities will join young people for Denver’s march to end gun violence” from The Denver Post on March 22, 2018. 
• Read “Faith and firearms: Why Christians don’t talk about gun violence” from The News & Observer on March 2, 2018. 
• Read “How the Catholic Church could help lead a gun control movement” from America magazine on Feb. 21, 2018. 
• Read “Packing in the pews: The connection between God and guns” from Christianity Today on Nov. 8, 2017. 
• Read “Faith leaders question how to address gun violence in churches” from the Deseret News on May 14, 2016. 

U.S. sources

• Jamie Aten

  Jamie Aten is founder and executive director of the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College. He is an expert on religious responses to public emergencies, including hurricanes and mass shootings. Aten is also a founding signer of the Prayers and Action petition, which calls on the evangelical Christian community to do more to address gun violence.

• Zarina Baber

  Zarina Baber is chairwoman of the Muslim Caucus of America. Along with the rest of the organization, she works to boost political engagement within the Muslim community during election season around issues like immigration, gun violence and racism.

• Joseph R. Black

  Rabbi Joseph R. Black is senior rabbi of Temple Emanuel in Denver. After the 2018 synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, he spoke out about rising gun violence and the need for improved gun laws.

• Mariann Budde

  Bishop Mariann Budde leads the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C. She is a member of Bishops United Against Gun Violence, an ad hoc group of around 60 Episcopal leaders. Contact the Rev. Daryl Paul Lobban to arrange an interview.

• Shane Claiborne

  Shane Claiborne is a Philadelphia-based Christian activist and author. He is a co-founder of Red Letter Christians, a Christian group that focuses on people at the economic and social margins and organized a day of prayer in support of an impeachment inquiry.

• Daniel DiNardo

  Cardinal Daniel DiNardo is metropolitan archbishop of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Contact through Jo Ann Zuniga.

  The USCCB has called on Catholics to pray and advocate for changes to America’s gun laws and an end to gun violence.

• Jerry Falwell Jr.

  Jerry Falwell Jr. is president of Liberty University, an evangelical Christian school in Lynchburg, Virginia. He serves on President Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory board. Arrange an interview through Scott Lamb, the university’s senior vice president for communications.

  Falwell has criticized efforts to limit access to guns, and he approved concealed carry on Liberty’s campus and added a gun range.

• Douglas Fisher

  The Rt. Rev. Douglas Fisher serves as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts. He is chairman of the denomination’s Executive Council Committee on Corporate and Social Responsibility, which oversees the Episcopal Church’s efforts to invest in gun manufacturers in order to force reforms.

• Melissa Florer-Bixler

  Melissa Florer-Bixler is pastor of Raleigh Mennonite Church. She writes and speaks on a number of justice issues, including gun violence. Arrange an interview through the contact form on her website.

• Valerie Heinonen

  Sister Valerie Heinonen is a Catholic nun who works as director of shareholder advocacy at Mercy Investment Services. She aims to use strategic investing to force change in the gun industry.

• Deanna Hollas

  Deanna Hollas is the minister of gun violence prevention for the Presbyterian Church (USA.) She coordinates related programming through the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship.

• Robert Jeffress

  The Rev. Robert Jeffress is senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas and a contributor to Fox News. He serves as one of President Donald Trump’s evangelical advisers.

  He’s argued that gun violence stems from the nation’s poor spiritual health.

• Movita Johnson-Harrell

  Movita Johnson-Harrell is a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. She got involved in gun violence prevention efforts after the death of her son in 2011 and became the first Muslim member of the Pennsylvania Legislature in 2019.

• Pardeep Singh Kaleka

  Pardeep Singh Kaleka is executive director of the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee. He’s also a member of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, the site of a 2012 mass shooting. Kaleka lost his father in the shooting.

• Seth M. Limmer

  Rabbi Seth M. Limmer leads Chicago Sinai Congregation, a faith community involved in gun violence prevention efforts.

• Eric S.C. Manning

  The Rev. Eric S.C. Manning is the pastor of Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., the site of a 2015 mass shooting. He has served in this role since June 2016.

• Mike Martin

  Mike Martin is founder and executive director of RAWtools, an organization that confronts gun violence by leading community dialogues and transforming guns into garden tools. He is also the co-author, along with Christian activist Shane Claiborne, of Beating Guns: Hope for People Who Are Weary of Violence.

• Lucy McBath

  Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Georgia, serves in the U.S. House of Representatives. She entered politics after her son, Jordan, was shot and killed in 2012. Before her election to Congress, McBath led faith outreach for Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action.

• Jonathan Perlman

  Rabbi Jonathan Perlman leads New Light Congregation in Pittsburgh, one of the faith communities attacked during the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting.

• Michael Pfleger

  The Rev. Michael Pfleger is senior pastor for the Faith Community of St. Sabina in Chicago. He helps lead an annual march against gun violence.

• Karen Swallow Prior

  Karen Swallow Prior is an author and English professor at Liberty University. She has written about carrying a gun while running, arguing that gun ownership can support the Christian call to protect innocent life.

• Katy Rigler

  Katy Rigler is lead pastor of St. Barnabas Presbyterian Church in Richardson, Texas. Her congregation plans to lead a Bible study on gun violence this fall. Contact her using this form.

• Sharon Risher

  The Rev. Sharon Risher is a spokesperson for Everytown Survivor Network and Moms Demand Gun Sense in America. Her mother, Ethel Lee Lance, died in the Mother Emanuel AME Church shooting in Charleston in June 2015. Use the contact form on Risher’s website to arrange an interview.

• Samuel Rodriguez

  The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez is president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. He has criticized conservative evangelicals who have spoken against or have remained silent on immigration and argued that the August 2019 mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, was driven, in part, by anti-immigrant rhetoric. Arrange an interview through the Kairos Co.

• Rob Schenck

  The Rev. Rob Schenck is an ordained evangelical Christian minister and president of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Institute in Washington, D.C. In response to rising gun violence, he is working to challenge evangelical support for gun ownership.

• Eugene Sutton

  The Rt. Rev. Eugene Sutton is bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland. He is one of three conveners of Bishops United Against Gun Violence, an ad hoc group of around 60 Episcopal leaders.

• David Yamane

  David Yamane is a professor of sociology at Wake Forest University and expert on American Catholicism. He is the author of The Catholic Church in State Politics: Negotiating Prophetic Demands and Political Realities. Over the last few years, Yamane has shifted his attention to gun culture and studies the rise of armed citizens.

International sources

• Brian Adams

  Brian Adams directs the Centre for Interfaith and Cultural Dialogue at Griffith University in Australia. He also serves as Queensland convener for Religions for Peace Australia.

• Mustafa Farooq

  Mustafa Farooq serves as executive director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims.

  Although mass shootings in Canada are rare, a gunman attacked a Quebec City mosque on Feb. 21, 2017, and killed six worshippers.

• Mustafa Farouk

  Mustafa Farouk is president of the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand. He was a key spokesman for the country’s Muslim community after the Christchurch mosque shootings in March 2019.

• Rachel Monaghan

  Rachel Monaghan is a senior lecturer in criminology at Ulster University in Ireland. She studies political violence with a particular interest in paramilitary conflict in Northern Ireland.

• Robert Muggah

  Robert Muggah is the co-founder of and research director for the Igarape Institute in Brazil, which is focused on security issues in South America. He specializes in safety and migration and serves as an associate faculty member at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro.

Related research

• Read “Gun policy remains divisive, but several proposals still draw bipartisan support” from Oct. 18, 2018. 
• Read “Six-in-10 Americans support stricter gun laws” from Gallup on Oct. 17, 2018. 
• Read “God and guns: Examining religious influences on gun control attitudes in the United States” from Religions on June 14, 2018. 
• Read “Evangelical leaders own guns, but want stricter laws” from the National Association of Evangelicals in August 2017. 
• Read “Americans say better mental health screenings best way to prevent future mass shootings” from PRRI on Jan. 23, 2013.

Additional resources

• Gun Violence Prevention Congregational Toolkit from the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship
• How should Christian leaders respond to gun violence? from Faith & Leadership
• Prayer Petition from Prayers & Action
• The Armor of Light from Fork Films