Friday, 1 August 2008
Op Ed column
Christine Brownlie

Brownlie is the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Blacksburg.

Another gunman robs our freedoms

Re: “Police say Tenn. church targeted for liberal views,” July 29 news story:

Last Sunday I was sitting with members of my congregation, enjoying the rare (for me) opportunity to participate in worship. Most Sundays I'm the one standing at the pulpit, leading the congregation through a familiar and comforting order of service. I left with a feeling of closeness to my congregation. I was filled with gratitude that we have this time to gather every Sunday and consider the ideas, concerns and hopes that are on our minds and in our hearts. Freedom of religion. Freedom of assembly. Freedom from fear. How blessed we are as Americans.

I could hear the phone ringing even as I was fussing with the lock on my front door. I missed that call but the phone soon rang again. The caller warned me in a trembling voice that she had bad news. There had been a shooting at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Knoxville, Tenn. Seven people were seriously injured. The children of the congregation had been offering a play and had witnessed the horrible event. There was not much more to say at that point.

We were both in tears and feeling the terrible grief that once again lives had been lost to a man with a gun in his hand and a heart filled with some kind of pain that drove him to this act.

I sat in front of the TV with my laptop on the coffee table, frantically trying to find out what had happened. I thought of my colleague, the Rev. Chris Buice, who has led that congregation for several years and helped it become a church that carries its faith into the streets and the broken places that are found in every town and city.

I thought of the children, terrified, confused, and wondered if they would even be able to return to the congregation that had loved them and nurtured them. Would their fears stay with them for the rest of their lives?

I thought: Freedom of religion. Freedom of assembly. Freedom from fear. Really?

How many times do we have to endure the horror of another gunman picking off shoppers in a store, mowing down fellow workers at a plant or shop or people gathered for worship in a church before we realize that we are handing over these precious rights to those who claim that the right to own a gun supercedes my right to feel safe in a public place?

I ache for the people of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church and the Westside Unitarian Universalist Church who had the sanctity of their church and their time of worship violated by a man with a gun who was filled with hate.

I wonder when we, the people, will say "enough" and demand that our rights to go about our daily lives with a sense of peace and security be honored.

Please think about this the next time you're sitting in your house of worship.

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