Statement On Gun Violence

Dear Friends,

In the United States, there have been twenty-seven school shootings since January 1, 2o22 and the country has surpassed 200 mass shootings this year. Two years ago, in 2020, guns surpassed auto accidents as the number one leading cause of death for children under the age of 19 — most not from mass shootings but from daily, one-on-one incidents. Yet, gun violence is not a new phenomenon; it is woven into the very fabric of this country.

I am heartbroken, angry, anxious, exhausted, and literally sick to my stomach. Truly, I have no words. So it is in these moments of profound grief, coupled with the feeling of utter defeat regarding our failure to address gun violence, that I reach out to my community. Even without words, we must open our mouths. Even in sorrow and defeat, we must rise to action. Hear these words from my colleagues at CST, join the conversation, and then, together, let us embody the justice we seek.

When our questions go unanswered,
When our words leave us,
When the weight is overpowering,
When our bodies reach combustion & exhaustion,
When our collective wailing is heard across past and future placetimes.
I hope we can pause.
I hope we can weep.
I hope we can feel.
I hope we can grieve.

— Dr. Yohana Junker, Assistant Professor of Art, Religion, and Culture;
Louisville Institute Postdoctoral Scholar

 

God of justice and mercy, we confess before you today that we have sinned in your sight. We have worshiped the idol of the gun and hardened our hearts against your children as we sacrifice them on an altar of too many years of indifference. We turn away our faces when they cry out ‘How Long O Lord’ and ask for your peace. God of hope and courage, open us to your prophets who testify to your truth that justice comes when we follow your path of radical peace and kinship. Break us open so that we may remember that it is by your way of mutual care for one another, and not by our individual might, that will reshape this earth to mirror your heaven. Be with us in the stillness that comes when we sit with others in grief, and in our cries when we move with others to change our world into one where all your people may flourish.

— Rev. Dr. Yuki Schwartz, Assistant Professor of Constructive and Political Theologies; Louisville Institute Postdoctoral Scholar
(Adapted from a prayer written by Dr. Schwartz in 2012)

 

The God that we know is weeping — like Rachel wailing over her slaughtered children. God is weeping for the school children slain in the sanctity of their classroom; for their loved ones who will have a whole in their heart for the rest of their lives; for the eighteen year-old shooter, still but a child himself, and the brutalities that he knew giving rise to such a cold and barbaric act; and for a country unable to legislate even the most sensible of gun reforms. We weep with that God; we wail for all of the suffering; and we resolve to transform our tears into strategic action, creating a world where children are no longer enabled to kill other children.

— Dr. Frank Rogers, Jr., Muriel Bernice Roberts Professor
of Spiritual Formation and Narrative Pedagogy

 

From imperialism abroad to gun violence and systemic racism at home, the presence of the United States of America is characterized by the culture of death. We can change this as communities, by demanding the government to relinquish their grip on power, and to actually fulfill the sense of justice of the victims and the oppressed. We can sow the seeds of the culture of life by building communities of love in which we care for, and see the sacred in each other.

— Professor Lailatul Fitriyah, Assistant Professor of Interreligious Education

 

In the wake of this horror, this repetition of past horrors, we pray for a strong spirit, a spirit that teaches us a new way of being — so that even in the face of death we may find the courage to bring that new way to life.

— Dr. Andrew Dreitcer, Acting Vice President for Academic Affairs and
Dean of the Faculty

 

If you feel called to share your thoughts, your poetry, your art, or your prayers, I invite you to do so. And if you are ready to put your grief, anger, and heart into action, I invite you to join the youth-led movement March for Our Lives, to make a voting plan, to organize in your community, to volunteer, to contribute funds, to write the letters, to support local teachers and schools.

There is a time and a place for lament and prayer, and there is a time for action and change. May we each do what we are called to do.

With you,
Jeffrey

The Rev. Dr. Kah-Jin Jeffrey Kuan, President

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