Idols of Violence
Exploring False gods in the Wake of Tragedy
This past week, after news of another devastating school shooting taking place in Iowa, former President and again-presidential candidate Donald Trump remarked on Iowa’s deadly school shooting “It’s horrible but we have to get over it."1
In an article, the fact-checking website Snopes tried to offer some context.
Trump appeared to ad lib this remark while delivering a prepared statement that included expressing his "support" and "deepest sympathies" for the victims and their families.
For certain, these words about needing to “get over” the shooting were given within the context of a larger set of prepared remarks about the tragedy.
It's a very terrible thing that happened. And it's just terrible to see that happening. It's just terrible. So surprising to see it here. But, we have to get over it. We have to move forward. We have to move forward. But, to the relatives and to all of the people that are so devastated right now, to a point they can't breathe, they can't live, we are with you all the way. We're with you and we love you and cherish you.
In the larger context, it can be construed that Trump is rather ineloquently encouraging the community and people to seek healing and restoration. Yet, in light of Trump’s own record of callousness and carelessness, in light of the broader “MAGA” movement’s unflinching commitment to gun ownership at all costs—even the loss of innocent children—I cannot help but read more into his words.
Pastor and author Steve Cuss speaks of what he calls “false gospels” vs. the true Gospel. Cuss notes two things about what he calls “false gospels”
First, a false gospel never delivers on its promise. Second it it makes you pay so it benefits rather than it paying so you benefit.
Think about these words in relation to the gun lobby. Guns promise safety. Guns promise security. Yet, somehow we live in nation that far surpasses similar nations with advanced economies in gun-related deaths.2 Guns demand payment rather than providing a benefit. Yet, this is where even the “false gospel” language falls short.
I would posit that guns serve as more of an idol or false god.3 Theologian Andrew Root also notes that “the gun in American society…symbolizes much more than the gun itself.”4 Peter Marty of the Christian Century describes guns as “America’s golden calf.”5
As an idol or false god, the gun (and in more particular, gun ideology) offers a false theology—a twisted and distorted take on substitutionary atonement. It’s theology says “others will have to die so that I can have safety and freedom” whereas the gospel of Jesus Christ6 says “I’ll die so that death will be no more.”
See the Apostle’s Paul’s writing in Romans 3. He writes that all who believe “are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood.”7 To be sure, there’s a lot happening in these verses and in the broader chapter. But, Paul’s understanding of the gospel seems to be that the death of Jesus took the place of humanity.
Now, I’m not a huge fan of substitutionary atonement theology. I think it can be limited in it’s understanding an explanation of the gospel message of Jesus. Even still, I think there is something incredible and profound in the notion of God saying, “I’ll die so that you don’t have to.”
More, what we know about some ancient religions is that human and child sacrifice was a thing. Humans believed that the (false) gods demanded the death of others— so that these first humans could continue to live and thrive. Alas, history repeats itself.
Perhaps this is the conclusion that can be drawn on what makes a false god or a false theology:
False gods and idols demand the sacrifice of the lives of others so that some can have life. The true God and God’s true theology says I’ll sacrifice myself so that all may have life.
Liles, Joran. “Fact Check: Trump Said ‘we Have to Get over It’ about School Shooting in Perry, Iowa, in January 2024.” Yahoo! News. Accessed January 8, 2024. https://news.yahoo.com/fact-check-trump-said-over-012300717.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9kdWNrZHVja2dvLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAFcjGsygigbAqKMTGPIpxzYgWtDd-bvGZp1K8Z1lyIIKi9gIEaa-29sziF6iT4lVXHMqZbn39hwIB-k6ai4LbCZgs5IfoeLml-rF8tW0wpwV8BL4rCLBipQYg_lPKfWIAMZxBdfEDkYV8LzEff1LALzUEL1aXzWOqLfRgM9ImPXC.
Aizenman, N. (2023, January 24). Gun violence deaths: How the U.S. compares with the rest of the world. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/03/24/980838151/gun-violence-deaths-how-the-u-s-compares-to-the-rest-of-the-world
Certainly I am not the first to make this connection.
Root, Andrew. The Church in an Age of Secular Mysticism. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2023, 90.
1. Peter W. Marty, “Guns Are Americans’ Golden Calf,” The Christian Century, March 14, 2018, https://www.christiancentury.org/article/first-words/guns-are-americans-golden-calf.
Or one interpretation of it, at least.
Romans 3:24-25 NSRVUE