Analysis: Gun Violence and Social Creed

General Assembly Committee 9, Social Justice Issues, will also have peacemaking items on its agenda. Of particular interest to the Peace Fellowship is the overture "On Addressing the Tragedy of America's Gun Violence," from National Capital Presbytery. This overture would increase accountability for gun purchases through closing the gun show loophole and using new technologies such as microstamping of cartridges. It calls for study, worship, and advocacy at all levels of the church. A very interesting proposal in the overture would "direct the Office of Theology and Worship, in consultation with the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, to prepare a statement articulating a Reformed theology of proactive, constructive nonviolence as way of life and tactical method for bringing God’s justice and peace in our communities and around the world."

"A Social Creed for the Twenty-First Century and Recognition of the Centennial of the 'Social Creed of the Churches' of 1908" offers this General Assembly the opportunity of making a comprehensive social justice statement that includes far more than the labor issues of the original 1908 document. The peacemaking statements could be strengthened: they call for "peacemaking through multilateral diplomacy rather than unilateral force, the abolition of torture, and a strengthening of the United Nations and the rule of international law," and "nuclear disarmament and redirection of military spending to more peaceful and productive uses." We need disarmament that goes far beyond nuclear weapons. We need a United Nations that is not only stronger, but one that is truly respected by the United States. And the warning against "unilateral force" does not go far enough in condemning the convenient international coalitions assembled by our recent administrations whenever they have wanted to invade another nation.

The creed calls for ending the death penalty and rehabilitating criminals. It fails to address the criminal justice issues caused by a war on drugs that is misdirected toward military action in foreign countries instead of emphasizing treatment and prevention programs; and it fails to address the crime caused by easy access to guns. But perhaps these additional steps will have to wait for the next creed, in 2108.