Evangelical Reverend Rob Schenck has always been a strong and active proponent for the pro-life movement. In the spring of 1992, he was part of a pro-life rally that practically caused all of Buffalo, New York, to shut down. Later that year, a pro-life sniper shot abortion doctor Barnett Slepian, 52, near Buffalo. Slepian’s family blamed Schenck, claiming that his vitriolic rhetoric incited the murderer. For Schenck, the murder came as a horrific shock. He started thinking if he really believed in pro-life shouldn’t he also be anti-gun?
After years of witnessing subsequent killings, Schenck decided that he would finally take a stand against gun violence. The only problem though, is that the evangelical community, and more importantly his funders, are strongly pro-gun.
Abby Disney’s new documentary “The Armor of Light,” captures Schenck’s struggle to come to terms with his religion and his beliefs on gun control.
“It caused him to ask himself, where does Christianity fit in this picture,” Disney said on Boston Public Radio Friday.
Before Schenck began speaking publicly about this issue, he asked other evangelicals what there response would be if he came out in support of gun control.
“He was paralyzed by what he knows is coming, the blow back from his own community no one is going to accept him taking this position,” Disney said about Schenck’s fear of losing his supporters.
Disney is hoping her film will be able to further help Schenck’s crusade to strengthen gun control laws.
“We’ve been showing to conservative audiences and increasingly they are really receptive,” said Disney.
Listen to the Abby Disney’s interview here:
