"LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Ken Pagano, the pastor of the New Bethel Church here, is passionate about gun rights. He shoots regularly at the local firing range, and his sermon two weeks ago was on “God, Guns, Gospel and Geometry.” And on Saturday night, he is inviting his congregation of 150 and others to wear or carry their firearms into the sanctuary to “celebrate our rights as Americans!” as a promotional flier for the “open carry celebration” puts it. “God and guns were part of the foundation of this country,” Mr. Pagano, 49, said Wednesday in the small brick Assembly of God church, where a large wooden cross hung over the altar and two American flags jutted from side walls. “I don’t see any contradiction in this. Not every Christian denomination is pacifist.” The bring-your-gun-to-church day, which will include a $1 raffle of a handgun, firearms safety lessons and a picnic, is another sign that the gun culture in the United States is thriving despite, or perhaps because of, President Obama’s election in November." - Steven Perez from Bookmarklet

Ummmm, no. My Bible may read a bit differently from this guy's, but I'm pretty sure Jesus never admonished his followers to bring guns with them to their meetings. I fairly certain that bringing weapons into the old Jewish temple was a death penalty offense. So, yeah, I'd really like to see this guy's Bible. - Steven Perez

Christians aren't bound by most of Jewish law, since they aren't Jewish. Christians have a long tradition of martial religion. - Alex Scrivener

Chistians aren't bound by Jewish law, true, but a good deal of early Christianity was based on the same principles that came to be a basis for the Jewish faith. And the long tradition of martial Christendom did not begin until well after the death of the apostles, culminating in Constantine's establishment of Christianity as the official religion of his empire: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... - Steven Perez

And? Traditions grow and change. Constantine was still 1700 years ago. And even before that, Christianity was popular in the Roman army (yes, yes, along with Mithraism). A gun-friendly church doesn't seem that radical. - Alex Scrivener

Gotta love the words Gun and Friendly in the same sentence.... - Rasmus Lauridsen

That's an H&K MP5!!! what the hell. first off it's a 9mm sub machine-gun and second it's hecka expensive. oh, and Christians have no martial basis in their bible... unless they go to the old testament and don't interpret it along with the teaching of Jesus. ya know that whole "love your enemies" comment. - Marco

I'm sorry, I was under the impression that this was a fundamentalist church. You know, hewed to the Bible and all that. Because later in the article: "Arkansas and Georgia recently rejected efforts to allow people to carry concealed weapons in church. Watching the debate in Arkansas was John Phillips, pastor of the Central Church of Christ in Little Rock. In 1986, Mr. Phillips was preaching in a different church there when a gunman shot him and a parishioner. Both survived, but Mr. Phillips, 51, still has a bullet lodged in his spine. In a telephone interview, he said he found the idea of “packing in the pew” abhorrent. “There is a movement afoot across the nation, with the gun lobby pushing the envelope, trying to allow concealed weapons to be carried in places where they used to be prohibited — churches, schools, bars,” Mr. Phillips said. “I don’t understand how any minister who is familiar with the teachings of the Bible can do this,” he added. “Jesus didn’t say, ‘Go ahead, make my day.’ ”" - Steven Perez

So, yeah, we can ignore "ancient history" if you want, but I suspect that bringing guns into church is more a matter of fear of a gun-control-advocating president and less a matter of what Jesus taught. - Steven Perez

@Steven Amen. What does this have to do with the word of God? - Zach Landes

Why is anyone surprised? Bronze Age beliefs lead to Bronze Age values and actions...the names and places change, but the theme is the same. - Neal "thePuck" Jansons

+++++++ Neal - Harold

"and Geometry" WHAT THE FUCK? - tehKenny

Jesus was a cool dude, i don't care who you are. Christian might be dumb asses but that Man was way ahead of his time. - Marco

Oh yeah, because the good old boy network doesn't include cops...the authorities will be in the pews, singing about their invisible friend's love and mercy while fondling their weapons. - Neal "thePuck" Jansons from IM

Actually, he was completely consistent with his time. There is nothing in any of the sayings of Jesus that was new philosophically or ethically. The Jews of that time were highly Hellenicized and had access to all the ethical ruminations of Greek philosophy. In addition to that, through access to Asia Minor, the basic notions of Buddhism and Hindu systems were contemporary with them as well. Also...you can't ignore the Canaanite woman who Jesus refuses to help and calls a dog because of ethic hatred between Canaanites and Israelites. She has to accept the insult and humiliate herself and her people to gain his help. Doesn't sound very cool to me. - Neal "thePuck" Jansons from IM

you got me Neal, Jesus sucked. - Marco