Christians, Guns, Prayer, and the Problem with Facts

A popular talking point among Republicans when it comes to the gun debate in this nation concerns the place of the Christian God in our society.  And this issue goes well beyond the trite "thoughts and prayers" that robotically comes out of every Republican's mouth when the next mass shooting takes place.  What I'm talking about concerns where the Republicans tend to lay the blame of our nation's epidemic of mass shootings.  For example,

• In September, 2018, Ted Cruz stated that our nation's mass shootings have to do with "removing God from the public square."
• In August, 2019, Ohio state representative Candice Keller blamed mass shootings on, among other things, "the culture, which totally ignores the importance of God and the church."
• Also in August, 2019, VP Mike Pence stated that in our nation's dark hours (after mass shootings), we need to "turn to faith and prayer" because our modern society is "driving religion from the public square."
• Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick recently said that one of the "factors that go into these shootings" is that "we won't even let our kids pray in our schools."  (By the way, that is a false statement.  We do allow kids to pray in schools; meaning, they are not prohibited from doing so.  Rather, our government, correctly so, does not sponsor it by laying aside a specific time for school prayer.)
• And noted Republican-politician-turned-FoxNews-pundit Mike Huckabee has blamed school gun violence on the fact that "we have systematically removed God from our schools."

Now, here's the glitch in this popular, go-to, meme-worthy Republican argument: FACTS.  Here are a few:

• In recent polls, 71% of the United States citizens identified as Christian.  On the other hand, only 2% of Japanese citizens identify as such.
• Now, correlate those numbers with these: Since 2009, the United States has had 288 school shootings; Japan has had 0.
• To be more specific, 53% of Texas citizens identify as Christian.
• More correlation: Since 1970, Texas has had 133 school shootings; Japan has had 0.

So, according to this very clear data, there is literally no correlation whatsoever between a nation's or state's Christian status and that nation's or state's mass shootings.  To repeat, NONE.

However, when one looks at some other data, there does seem to be a correlative force involved:

So, the FACTS are clear: (1) "more Christian" does NOT equal fewer mass shootings, yet (2) more guns owned per capita DOES equal more gun deaths.  Those. Are. Facts.  Full stop.

However, because Christians are taught to rely on faith, they, many times, will simply ignore any facts that do not align perfectly with what they have been told to believe or what they want to believe.  That's called cognitive dissonance, a condition in which the adherent to a belief begins with the belief and will hold onto that belief even in the face of factual data that fully disproves said belief.  Thus, the facts are ignored rather than the belief changed.  (BTW, that is the exact opposite of the approved scientific method.)

And here's the rub: Republicans, who are heavily financed by the gun lobby, are preying on that very trait of the evangelical Christian.  They want to switch the mass-shooting narrative away from the obvious facts concerning our nation's obsession with guns and to the God thing.  Evangelicals LOVE that argument and are, therefore, easily swayed to it even though (now listen very carefully) the FACTS DISPROVE THEIR BELIEFS.

It's high time for this Christian willful ignorance to stop holding our nation in check.  We are not a theocracy, and those false notions simply need to be swept aside so that factual information can help us make intelligent, rational decisions.