Faith Leaders Demand Gun Control After Florida School Shooting [VIDEO]

Faith leaders took to Twitter after Wednesday’s school shooting in Florida to demand stricter gun control legislation, arguing that it would prevent future mass shootings.

The majority of faith leaders who addressed the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on social media or published statements offered consolation, prayers, and words of shared grief and healing, but some used their platforms of religious and communal authority to demand the restriction of gun rights. Catholic Cardinals Seán O’Malley, archbishop of Boston, and Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, called for gun control along with Sojourners magazine founder Jim Wallis, while another religious leader, Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg, even went so far as to join those who bashed the idea of thoughts and prayers, saying that they seeking God’s help was worthless compared to human action.

God doesn’t want your thoughts and prayers.

God wants you to know that you are responsible to care for and protect other people. And to take action to do so. https://t.co/T8IL8uKBwm

— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) February 15, 2018

We must prevent those who are mentally ill from access to deadly firearms. We can and must do better for each other by coming together as a society with the resolve to stop this senseless violence. #Parkland#Parklandshooting#ParklandFlorida

— Cardinal Seán (@CardinalSean) February 15, 2018

As shared following the tragic attack in Newtown, “There can be no rational justification for allowing private citizens to have personal arsenals of assault weapons. #Parkland#Parklandshooting#ParklandFlorida

— Cardinal Seán (@CardinalSean) February 15, 2018

My thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the tragic #Parkland, Florida, shooting. This bloodshed will not stop until we all take responsibility and act to strengthen gun laws and support for those with mental health needs.

— Cardinal Cupich (@CardinalBCupich) February 15, 2018

My statement on #Parkland: https://t.co/T1KCrub1V8

— Jim Wallis (@jimwallis) February 15, 2018

Episcopal Rev. Alex Dyer, who recently championed the Washington, D.C., diocese’s adoption of gender neutral terms for God and the inclusion of transgender individuals in leadership roles, also called for gun control in the wake of the shooting by retweeting Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut.

Don’t tell me tomorrow isn’t the appropriate time to debate gun violence. If you’re a political leader doing nothing about this slaughter, you’re an accomplice.

— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) February 15, 2018

More prominent religious leaders such as Pope Francis, Franklin Graham, and Bishop T.D. Jakes simply urged people to come together to help one another heal and to pray for God’s divine help to put an end to what they saw as senseless violence. Rabbi Schmuley Boteach, one of the most well-known rabbis in North America, took time after a speaking engagement in Miami to post a Facebook live video in which he shared his personal experience with a mall shooting, expressed his solidarity with the survivors and the families of the victims, and said that no matter whether people believe that guns are at fault or whether they believe mental health is the issue, all can agree that “this kind of evil can no longer stalk the united states.”

WATCH:

One religious group, the The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, would not let gun control proponents’ politicizing of the Florida school shooting go unchallenged.

ALSO WATCH:

Another loner from a dysfunctional family with a history of behavioral and mental problems goes on a killing spree and liberals blame the gun. Brilliant.

— Catholic League (@CatholicLeague) February 15, 2018

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