Gundamentalism and Where It is Taking America

Publisher Description

Gundamentalism and Where It Is Taking America is the work of James Atwood, a retired Presbyterian pastor and an avid deer hunter for half a century who has also been in the forefront of the faith community's fight for two constitutional rights: the right to keep and bear arms and the right to live in domestic tranquility, free of gun violence. He explains why guns mystically control so many Americans and exposes the fallacies of the gun industry's spurious claim that firearms actually protect us. He argues there are no bona fide scientific studies that show defensive guns save us from harm, while there is voluminous research showing a defensive gun puts the owner and his or her family at greater risk. Atwood's book, which details his learning of a lifetime in the struggle for reasonable gun laws in America, puts dependable social and theological analysis of our unique national epidemic into your hands along with scientific data that will provoke honest reflection and discussion for the building of a safer and saner America. Questions for group discussion and suggestions for action are included. --Looking through the lens of faith, Atwood shines a klieg light on the shadows and myths surrounding the meanings of guns in our society. Have your highlighter at the ready! Atwood provides shocking data and provocative detail that is scrupulously documented.-- --Katie Day, Charles A. Schieren Professsor of Church and Society, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia --Jim Atwood continues to challenge our nation's obsession with guns and violence. His critiques offer an opportunity for all of us to reclaim God as an agent of love rather than fear, power, and domination. This book is a must-read for theologians, pastors, activists, seminarians, congregations, and community and lay leaders.-- --J. Herbert Nelson II, Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA) --In this powerful book, James Atwood subverts the gospel of guns with an analysis that is both clear and persuasive. No one writing today has offered such deep and helpful theological reflection on this issue. Anyone who wants to understand the death grip that the love of guns has on our culture--and seeks to loosen that grip--should read this book.-- --Martin B. Copenhaver, President, Andover Newton Theological Seminary --Atwood slings out the facts like a modern-day David, slaying the gun lobby's twisted logic one chapter at a time. He gives the reader everything needed to understand the debate about guns in America and wraps it all up in a moral, ethical, and religious framework that will take the wind out of any gun rights zealot.-- --Joshua Horwitz, Executive Director, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence --Atwood has compiled the data, stories, and arguments about gun culture in American you are looking for, all in one book. --Rob Wilson-Black, PhD, CEO, Sojourners --As a faith leader and gun owner himself, Reverend Atwood grounds his opposition to gun violence in theology and facts, appealing to the broader faith community to use its moral authority to stop the killing by guns of more than 2,500 children and teens in 2014 alone.-- --Marian Wright Edelman, President, Children's Defense Fund --As always, Jim Atwood does his homework. The book is well-researched and full of stories and statistics that make for compelling reading. His most powerful contribution is when he names and calls out the Gundamentalists (a term I find equally disturbing and descriptive) and lays out a prescription on how we can take them on. Read the book; share it with friends at church or at work; then form a small group to stand up, take action, and be counted.-- --Rick Ufford-Chase, Co-Director of PCUSA Stony Point Conference Center and Author of Faithful Resistance. James E. --Jim-- Atwood is Pastor Emeritus of the Trinity Presbyterian Church of Arlington, Virginia, and lives with his wife, Roxana, at the Sunnyside Retirement Community of Harrisonburg, Virginia. He is the author of