I Shall Not be Moved!

There's an old Christian hymn which emerged from revivalist camp meetings among slaves in the Deep South that's done a dual purpose of expressing deep faith in God that is immovable, and was also used as a protest song of the civil rights movement, and as a union song.  It was copyrighted as a hymn in 1908.  It's been recorded by a number of artists, as varied as Mississippi John Hurt and Johnny Cash.  It was planted in my memory during my younger days when my parents would take me to a monthly gospel singing.  The chorus goes like this: 

I shall not be, I shall not be moved, I shall not be, I shall not be moved, just like a tree that's planted by the water, I shall not be moved.

Pretty simple.  

Right Wing Politicians Are Singing the Chorus, "I WILL NOT BE MOVED!"

It popped into my mind as I watched news reports this week as politicians, including some of Tennessee's Senate and Congressional delegation, put on sad faces, clicked their tongues at the awful attack on The Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville where six people, including three students and three staff members, died as a result of gun violence perpetrated by a shooter who owned seven military-style assault weapons, and then determined that they would not be moved to do anything to stop gun violence in schools by supporting meaningful and effective gun control legislation.  

They will not be moved. 

Not moved, even by six deaths, three of them children, in a school where it's not hard to figure out that most of the parents of the students are politically like-minded, conservative Republicans.  Not moved, not even Senator Marsha Blackburn, who happens to be a member of Christ Presbyterian Church, just down the road from Covenant, its "mother" congregation, from which Covenant Presbyterian Church was formed and its school, started by parents from the school operated by Blackburn's church.  You'd think that a shooting in a school where she very likely knows some of the parents, and staff members, most of whom would be supportive constituents, and with whom she would share her specific Christian values and perspective, would move her.  And it did, but no further than "thoughts and prayers."   

And did she really pray, sincerely, for the families of the victims?  They always say that, but if she were moved to prayer, she should have been moved to do something to stop this from happening, especially after it hit so close to home.  And that's not being too hard or judgmental.  She is a public figure after all, and it is inconsistent to be sympathetic to the victims of gun violence when she's had the power all along to make a difference, and wouldn't.  

And as far as I am concerned, that should tell Tennessee voters that she is not qualified to serve as a United States Senator.  What we got from Blackburn was a resolution in Congress honoring the victims.  What we should have got from her was sponsorship of a bill banning assault weapons and unqualified support for it.  That's what a real senator with the people's interest at heart would have done, especially after something like this.  

The Governor doesn't seem to be moved beyond thoughts and prayers, either.  Substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, one of the first to be murdered, was a personal friend of the governor's wife, Maria.  Maria Lee was a teacher at Christ Presbyterian Academy, the school belonging to Covenant's mother church, located just a few miles to the south, in Williamson County.  She very likely knew some of the parents and some of the staff members at Covenant, perhaps worked with some of them, since several teachers from Christ Presbyterian were also on staff at Covenant.  No mention, from her or her husband the governor, of any real solution to end this, even though it happened, literally, in their back yard.  Governor Lee's home is just a few miles away.  

It's A Familiar Chorus, So Frequent Now, That it is Hard to be Moved 

It's been a week, now, and, except for the Nashville area, the news of this school shooting is fading fast.  I don't really remember how long the Columbine shooting stayed in the news cycle, but it took a long time to get over the shock of that event.  Now, unless it's in the immediate area, the news coverage moves on.  

But there are a few things that have come out since the shooting that should put to rest some conservative myths about protecting schools, public or private.  It was reported, in the 911 call from the school, by an employee taking refuge under a desk, that some employees of the school had carry permits and were armed.  If that was the case, then this will be an example of how it would be complete folly to claim that "arming the teachers" would be an effective weapon against a heavily armed gunman using military style assault weapons.  

I don't think arming employees would ever be a good idea, nor does it have any potential at all for increasing the security of a facility, especially not a school, even if assault weapons are banned, because precipitating a running gun battle in a school building has the potential to be disastrous.  Aside from that, it only makes it easier for a disgruntled or angry student to have access to something more effective than bad language and fists to express a flash of rage in the moment.  

More Than Any Issue, This is a Symptom of a Bought-and-paid-for-Government

Money talks, and the gun lobby throws theirs around in large amounts, to politicians like Bill Lee and Marsha Blackburn, and the disgusting congressman who I will not mention whose family posed for a Christmas portrait sporting assault rifles.  These people do not represent us, they represent the highest bidder who has paid for their vote.  And now, because of their lack of leadership, the plague has invaded their own turf, and the cost now includes six lives lost in the corridor of an evangelical, Christian school, among those who implicitly believed they were under God's protection and their politicians did the right thing.  

And as long as there is no ban on these weapons, the chances of more deaths in another Christian school of similar, conservative Evangelical perspective being added to the cost is very likely.  It's not because Christians are under some kind of persecution or attack, this is just the second such shooting in a Christian school, the other being the 2006 murders in an Amish school in rural Nickles Mines, Pennsylvania.  But students in Christian schools are not immune from the emotional and mental breakdowns that led to this former student deciding to leave the world by committing suicide in a familiar place.  

This Was Not a Symptom of "Attacks on Christianity" 

Was this an attack on Christianity?  In the shooter's mind, perhaps.  Across the country, don't be ridiculous.  Far more people in this country commit murder and violence against those who they see as culturally incompatible with their Christian beliefs than those who attack or persecute Christians for their beliefs.  Look at January 6th, at how many police officers were threatened, beaten, jabbed with sharpened flagpoles, sprayed with chemicals and one murdered, by born again combatants wearing "Jesus Saves" t-shirts.  That says it all, that, and the "thoughts and prayers" of weaklings like Bill Lee and Marsha Blackburn, who "shall not be moved."