Baptist churches in Ky. giving away guns as an 'outreach to rednecks' to fill seats, win souls

What better way to get people to go to church than with the promise of free steaks and the chance to walk out with a brand new gun? The Kentucky Baptist Convention has created what its spokesman has called an "outreach to rednecks" in celebration of the Second Amendment, in which "churches around the state give away guns as door prizes to lure in nonbelievers in hopes of converting them to Christ," Andrew Wolfson reports for The Courier-Journal. (Photo by Stephen Lance Dennee: Danny Phillips examines the gun he won in February)

Guns "are donated by local businesses and presented briefly to the winners in church, so they can be photographed with their prize," Wolfson writes for the Louisville newspaper. "For legal and liability reasons, the firearms are taken back and must be reclaimed at a local gun shop, where the winner must pass a federal background check."
 
The program is spearheaded by ex-pastor and former Outdoor Channel hunting-show host Chuck McAlister, who "said 1,678 men made 'professions of faith' at about 50 such events last year, most of them in Kentucky," Wolfson reports. McAlister "said he can understand that some people have a problem with giving away guns at churches, but he told Wolfson, “We certainly don’t advocate violence. We are advocating guns for hunting and protection only.”

"It's a tested evangelism strategy: To find new members, get out of the church and go to where they live, work and play," writes Cheryl Truman of the Lexington Herald-Leader, in a story that is more a profile of McAlister.

But the gun giveaway isn't going over well with some religious leaders. Rev. Joe Phelps, pastor of Louisville’s independent and liberal Highland Baptist Church, told Wolfson, “Can you picture Jesus giving away guns, or toasters or raffle tickets? . . . He gave away bread once, but that was as a sign, not a sales pitch." Nancy Jo Kemper, pastor of New Union Church in Versailles and the former director of the Kentucky Council of Churches, told Wolfson: “Churches should not be encouraging people in their communities to arm themselves against their neighbors, but to love their neighbors, as instructed by Jesus. How terrible it would be if one of those guns given away at a church were to cause the death of an innocent victim.” Notably, the Southern Baptist Convention and the National Rifle Association declined Wolfson's requests for comment.

The next event, Thursday in Western Kentucky, is expected to draw as many as 1,000. Based on those numbers, and similar ones at previous events, McAlister said the program is a success. He told Wolfson, “The day of hanging a banner in front of your church and saying you’re having a revival and expecting the community to show up is over. You have to know the hook that will attract people, and hunting is huge in Kentucky. So we get in there and burp and scratch and talk about the right to bear arms and that stuff.” (Read more)