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The sad event occurred on June 30, 1974, about six years after her son was killed. It was a Sunday, and Mrs King and her family were at their Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga., which was headed by her husband, Rev. Martin Luther King Sr. King Sr. was not at church that day. Mrs. King was reportedly elated that she would be playing a new organ the church had just received. In front of about 500 congregants, the 69-year-old began playing the organ for the Lord’s Prayer while the congregation bowed their heads in prayer. That was when the...

In a stunning real-life example of why it is important that Americans retain their Second Amendment right to bear arms, a shooter at a Texas church on Sunday was fatally shot within seconds after he pulled a gun and shot two congregants during a service. The gunman — identified Monday as 43-year-old Keith Thomas Kinnunen, according to KXAS-TV — entered the West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas, near Forth Worth, and opened fire. Fortunately, he was quickly stopped by armed security, preventing any further deaths or injuries. Several other churchgoers also drew their weapons — a fact...

It got lost fairly quickly by the media. It was another church shooting, one now all but forgotten in the wake of Sutherland Springs, but initially lost in the aftermath of Las Vegas which happened a week later. There’s a saying in the news business: “If it bleeds, it leads.” Las Vegas certainly bled, and that meant we had far more to talk about than a church shooting in Tennessee. The church was in Antioch, Tennessee. That’s where an armed man decided to kill everyone he could at the church. How did it get lost amid two mass shootings and...

Churches around the country are rattled after the horrendous attack today in Texas — understandably so. I went to our church's evening service tonight — a Baptist church in a small town, not unlike Sutherland. We arrived late due to inclement weather in the area and found the doors locked from the inside. One of the deacons, acting out of an abundance of caution, had locked the doors and was "on patrol" in the lobby. There were conversations afterward about how churches can/should prepare for an active shooter situation. I know several men (and probably a few women) in our...

At least seven people were shot on Sunday when a shooter opened fire inside a Tennessee Church, Nashville police said. Nashville police received calls about a shooting at Burnette Chapel Church of Christ in Antioch just after 11 a.m., officials told Fox News. The church is about 30 minutes southeast of Nashville. "This is a mass casualty situation. All of the wounded have been transported to area hospitals. The majority are older adults," Nashville Fire Department wrote on Twitter. This is a mass casualty situation. All of the wounded have been transported to area hospitals. The majority are older adults.

The media are befuddled by the African-American community’s reaction to the massacre in Charleston, South Carolina. They expected the usual unrest they see whenever there’s any kind of violence perpetrated by someone of another race. Black-on-black crime never warrants a riot, of course. But this time, they guessed wrong. Reverend Norvel Goff spoke at the Emanuel AME Church on Sunday, pointing out how peace was guiding the community in its reaction to the racially-motivated hate crime against the church. “A lot of folks expected us to do something strange and to break out in a riot,” he said. “Well, they...

A pastor in the US state of Kentucky has told his flock to bring handguns to church in what he says is an effort to promote safe gun ownership. Pastor Ken Pagano told parishioners to bring their unloaded guns to New Bethel Church in Louisville for a service celebrating the right to bear arms. He said he acted after church members voiced fears the Obama administration could tighten gun control laws. When the service began, some 200 people were present, AP news agency said. "We are wanting to send a message that there are legal, civil, intelligent and law-abiding citizens...

When it comes to guns, the shepherd of this Kentucky flock is not sheepish—not in the least. In a story about the armed and verbose pastor, Ken Pagano, (“Pastor Invites His Flock To Bring Guns to Church”), New York Times reporter Katharine Q. Seelye quotes the 49 year old machine gun packing pastor, “ God and guns were a part of the foundation of this country”, he says. So was slavery and the oppression, slaughter and relocation of Native Americans. Some foundations have faults. Guns are not great. Guns are not evil. Guns are guns. I don’t like them because...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A gun-toting Kentucky pastor says it's OK to pack heat at church _ at least for one day. Ken Pagano asked his flock to bring their unloaded handguns _ in holsters _ to New Bethel Church in Louisville for a celebration of the Second Amendment. When the event got under way a little after 5 p.m. Saturday, about 200 people _ many carrying small firearms _ sat in the Pentecostal church sanctuary. "We are wanting to send a message that there are legal, civil, intelligent and law-abiding citizens who also own guns," Pagano said in greeting...

The genius of concealed carry of handguns is that would-be murderers remain uncertain as to who is armed and who isn't. This is true for everyone interested in being as safe as they can be from future violence, because it comes to the realization of specific unalterable realities: you're on your own. This week some Southern California Church Leaders came to that very same conclusion, and took up a position advocating not only a very discreet security presence of professionals, but also took the advice of their consultants and adopted the policy of advocating concealed carry of handguns among...

The FBI’s 2007 Hate Crimes Statistics list 3,870 race-based hate crimes, 1,400 religion-based, 1,265 crimes based on sexual orientation and 1,007 based on ethnicity or national origin. Broken down by anti-religious bias, 969 reported crimes were anti-Jewish, 130 were anti-Other religion, 115 were anti-Muslim, 61 were anti-Catholic, and 57 were anti-Protestant.