September 26, 5:30pm

Be inspired as the

Honorable Wendell Griffen

Addresses

The Epidemic of Gun Violence

in Arkansas and the U.S.

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My remarks will take a critical look at the connection between gun violence - in Arkansas and the US - and the myths too many of us have uncritically accepted as truth.

I consider what theologian Walter Wink called “the myth of redemptive violence”—the belief that violence saves, that war brings peace, and that might makes right— to be delusional. This hypocrisy has us teaching children to sing “Let There Be Peace On Earth” despite knowing we live in the US, the society Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called “the world’s greatest purveyor of violence.” Hence, we see no disconnect between the hypocrisy and gun violence, in Arkansas and across the US.

Until and unless we confront and disavow the myth of redemptive violence and the way it contributes to gun idolatry, we are doomed to suffer more gun violence, especially because we are unwilling to see that gun idolatry is commercialized, valorized, socialized, and (saddest of all) sacralized.

Social hour will begin at 5:30 PM, the meeting will start at 6:00 PM, light appetizers will be served and drinks are available for purchase.

See y'all on September 26 @ the Central Cabaret and Nightclub (former Central Theater) 1008 Central Ave, Hot Springs, AR 71901