Jeremy points us to this really weird post/e-mail from former Christian Civic League/Maine Family Policy Council director Mike Heath, which includes an explanation that he’s not planning to shoot anyone with guns, but also includes the picture of a Glock at right, just for good measure:
Preachers who sit idly by granting this matter the exalted status of debate are shirking their duty. Abortion and sodomy are not matters for debate. This is war.
All Christian men are in this fight to win. There is no other option. Generations unborn hang in the balance. We will not lose this fight. We cannot.Does this mean that I’m going to get out my 9mm Glock and go shoot an abortion doctor this week? No, all such acts of violence, carried out as they are on the basis of private authority, are reprehensible. No one has the authority to harm another, because such an act undermines the stability of society. The same is true of abortion.
It does, however, mean that I’m going to rank these matters as more important in priority than taxes and the economy. We can deal with those lesser matters when we restore honor, virtue and truth to families and relationships.
When we turn to Jesus Christ the economy will begin its recovery. We will also learn to truly love one another, and our enemies. With Jesus Christ, and submission to His heavenly Father’s ten commandments, this is possible. Without Them it will never happen.
If God calls you to join these men in the acknowledgment of my ordination from God there are some actions you can take to start me on this narrow path. Here they are:
1. Pray for Paulie and me.
2. Make a financial donation. See the bottom of this email for instructions on how to do that.
3. Help us spread the word by forwarding this email to others, and by encouraging them to invite us to speak/sing to their church or group.
My ministry is called Helping Hands. Hands can be helpful in so many ways. The grip of a pistol is shaped to fit the same human hand that tenderly cups the cheek of an innocent infant. Manly honor and virtue are better expressed in the heroism of a Marine than in the willingness of a lukewarm Pastor to compromise the Word of God. As Christian men we must be prepared to defend virtue and innocence. Honor and truth require it.
Never forget that the freedom to know God in this world is under attack as never before. If we surrender to the athiests [sic] our promise to be One Nation Under God (Jesus Christ) then we submit ourselves to His judgment. We should not be surprised when our nation collapses. We will have earned it.
But he promises not to shoot anyone with a gun, specifically a Glock.
Jeremy is quite rightly asking, “What, exactly, the hell?”
I think I may possibly have an idea of what this is all about. Guns are, to some weak-minded people, a symbol of virility. A penis substitute. Note the language about the “grip” of the gun, immediately followed by “manly honor” and “heroism,” juxtaposed with those lesser men who refuse to “defend virtue and innocence,” and become “lukewarm.” Mike Heath has been shoved to the side in the anti-gay movement, because his sort of open, rancid bigotry is kryptonite to an already-dying movement. Jeremy points out that the new leader of the Christian Civic League is doing everything in his power to make people forget that Mike Heath ever existed in the first place. This comes on the heels of the anti-gay marriage campaign in Maine, wherein Mike Heath wasn’t even allowed backstage with the people running the campaign, much less given a speaking role. Like Peter LaBarbera, he is recognized by his own side as toxic, a liability to be managed. The fact that he doesn’t understand why just adds to his desperation.
So, you see, in this post, as he tries to find meaning in his life, tries to find a new place at the dinner table of bigots, Mike Heath is grasping for any penis substitute he can find, something to make him feel “manly” and “heroic” again, in a society that has informed him that indeed, his ideas of masculinity, valor and heroism are really pretty freaking stupid. So he waxes poetic about stroking a gun, about how his hands are small, he knows, but they’re not yours, they are his own, and he can stroke a Glock if he wants, because it makes him feel virile.
That’s all.
Tell you what…he can grab my gun anytime he wants as long as I’m not on the other end of it pulling the trigger when he does.
I’m wondering if Mike Heath is subtly trying to plant the idea of gun use by others, while carefully keeping his own hands clean. There was no need for him bring guns into his posting. And then, given that he did bring guns into it, there is his choice of language: (“Note the language about the “grip” of the gun, immediately followed by “manly honor” and “heroism,” juxtaposed with those lesser men who refuse to “defend virtue and innocence,” and become “lukewarm.””) And he mentions “the heroism of a Marine” without noting that the heroism almost always involves killing people.
I think Richard has it right.
I have a huge gun that will make this guy happier than he’s ever been. He can shoot me and himself with it at the same time and neither of us die!
Way to take one for the team David, b/c have you SEEN Mike Heath?
You might rethink that.