Quote Originally Posted by Syme View Post
I'm not religious at all and I share your view that God and guns don't really have anything to do with each other, but I think that it's fairly easy to see how the conflation comes about if you understand how some people think about the relationship between gun ownership and America, and then between America and God. To someone who thinks that gun ownership was/is crucial to the foundation/preservation of America, and that America does or should have a particular connection to God or divine favor or what-have-you, the connection is pretty clear. It's not necessarily that they view gun rights as being directly connected to religion; but they view patriotism as going hand-in-hand with religion, and then they view gun rights as being connected to patriotism.
I know everything you said in that paragraph, trust me. I was just saying I think it's strange and scary how the "Cult of America" has grown up in nutty Evangelical Fundamentalist Protestantism ("cult" used in its border and older sense here).

I also think it's scary how areligious people are willing to support political candidates that openly profess such beliefs because of other issues.

Quote Originally Posted by Syme View Post
"And He [Jesus Christ] said to them, whomsoever hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one." Luke 22:36
Of course, later on, Jesus did admonish Peter for cutting off the servant's ear later on, which he then miraculously healed.

I know that's not your point, but I felt the need to add that.