The Rain Falls on the Just and the Unjust Alike...

The horrific events in Sandy Hook Elementary School have led to much soul-searching in recent days, as we have sought our own answers to the terrible question "why?"  The resulting polemic is rapidly becoming far more visceral than most any political discussions in recent memory, with fingers being pointed in three main directions: a) lax gun control; b) insufficient mental health services; and c) Americans' supposed irreligiosity.

Unfortunately, religion is no guarantee that a society will be free from misfortune, for as the Gospels say, "He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matt. 5:45) Especially when you consider that violent gun crime rates are actually still much lower in several countries which nowadays identify themselves as being both far less religious and far less Christian than the United States...

For example, last year, there were just 51 firearm-related deaths in the UK, their gun homicide rate is .04/100,000 persons, and out of 56 million people, 33 million identify themselves as being Christian, while as much as a fourth of the population does not declare themselves to be religious at all.

Compare that to the US, which has a firearm homicide rate of 3.7/100,000 persons and over 70% of the population which define themselves as Christian and another 10% religious of different faiths. Or El Salvador, which has the highest gun-related death rate in the world at over 50/100,000 persons, is about 80% Christian and almost 90% religious of mixed faiths!

In the end it seems truly that "blessed are the peacemakers." Righteous or not, the societies which stand by guns cannot at the same time avoid ever being cut down by them...