Georgia Clergy Protest Gun Violence at Ebenezer Vigil

June 16th, 2016

Wednesday night, clergy from 13 Atlanta congregations held an interfaith prayer vigil at Ebenezer Baptist Church to honor the victims of gun violence.

The event was originally planned to honor nine people killed by a gunman at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, last June. Then, Sunday’s Orlando, Florida, nightclub shooting widened that scope.

Although victims of the two shootings may seem dissimilar — a church prayer group in Charleston and LGBT clubgoers in Orlando — a major theme at the vigil was finding commonality.

“If you burn the Koran in the morning,” said Rev. Raphael Warnock, senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, “you will burn a cross on my lawn at night. And if you burn a cross, you will paint a swastika… And if you despise Jews, it’s not too difficult to demonize gays.”

Rev. Pamela Dreisell, senior pastor at Trinity Presbyterian Church, urged those in attendance not just to come together, but to take specific action.

“How long will we complain that our elected officials are pawns whose votes can be bought and sold, but refuse to… demand that they vote for common-sense gun laws that will protect all of God’s children?” she said.

Dreisell is part of a coalition of dozens of Georgia clergy calling for changes to the state’s gun laws, including more stringent background checks and banning assault weapons sales.