The Atlantic: Mainline Protestants ‘Better Educated,’ Therefore Pro-Gun Control

On Monday, The Atlantic ran a piece claiming mainline Protestants support of liberal politics and “tend to be better educated,” which “correlates with support for gun control.”

In fact, The Atlantic argues that liberal mainline Protestant churches — “with their million and billion dollar endowments/portfolios” — are now among the staunchest institutional backers of stricter gun controls.”

The Atlantic offers many examples of this liberal, church-based, gun control support, among them Gary Hall, “dean of the Washington National Cathedral.” Hall argues that Christians should support gun control because “Christians follow someone who died at the hands of human violence. They didn’t have handguns in his day, but the cross is essentially a form a human torture and execution.”

They point to Trinity Church in Manhattan. Although the church only holds $2,000 worth of Walmart stock, it is demanding that Walmart allow shareholders to override executive or board decisions on what type of guns Walmart sells. Trinity wants the retailer to quit selling rifles “that are well-suited to mass killing.”

Trinity hopes their “$2 billion portfolio” and “moral standing” will hold sway and win the day for gun control at Walmart.

In addition to these two examples, The Atlantic points to the United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA), both of which are staunchly pro-gun control.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is on the record for gun control as well.

These liberal Protestant churches are joined by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who “support a ban of assault rifles” and “high capacity” magazines.” They support “stronger background checks” as well. They are joined by the Islamic Society of North America, a group that has also “voiced support” for more gun control.

The Atlantic admits that this all comes together to put the mainline Protestant churches at odds with Evangelical churches, which tend to be pro-2nd Amendment. The good news is that congregations of mainline Protestant churches are dwindling while the congregations of Evangelical churches represent “a growing portion of the U.S. religious landscape.”

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.