White evangelicals have replaced trust in the Bible with allegiance to Republican orthodoxy.  Fidelity to the GOP’s toxic platform of anti-abortion, anti-climate change, anti-science, anti-gays, anti-immigration and anti-gun control is more important than belief in the inerrancy of the Bible, the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

White evangelicals are fervently pro-NRA, and they are vehemently opposed to even the most basic gun control measures like red flag laws, raising the age to purchase a long gun from 18 to 21, and enhanced background checks.

Needless to say, evangelicals don’t offer sophisticated reasons for opposing gun control laws. The following meme is ubiquitous on evangelical social media platforms:

“Cain killed Abel with a rock. The Lord did not get rid of the rocks. He blamed Cain, not the rock. We have a sin problem, not a gun problem. “

This meme doesn’t have the eloquence of the King James’ translators, but I admit it’s catchy. We don’t live in the Stone Age when prehistoric Cains and Abels settled their disputes with rocks and sharpened bones, we live in a technological age when sociopaths massacre schoolchildren with semi-automatic assault rifles, not rocks.

We do have a sin problem, more accurately referred to as a mental health problem, and we must allocate more resources to mental health, but at the same time it’s incumbent on us to make it more difficult for psychopaths to purchase assault rifles.

The Lord didn’t get rid of the rocks after Cain murdered Abel, and in spite of billions of thoughts and prayers, he hasn’t got rid of the guns, even though almost every day there’s another mass shooting in America.

Beseeching the Almighty will get us nowhere, we must vote out of office pro-NRA politicians, ridicule and expose evangelicals who are beholden to the gun lobby, and declare a holy war on the gun merchants.