This past weekend, a gunman opened fire on customers and staff in a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. He was motivated by anti-Black racism, filled with hate, and equipped with weapons easy to procure and modify. Soon after, another gunman opened fire in a Presbyterian church in Laguna Woods, California. 

 

These news items have more than guns in common. 

 

Both churches and grocery stores are places where communities come together for nourishment, for communion. These incidents, and others like them, chip away at the sense of safety any of us might find in settings where people come together. 

 

We at Andover Newton Seminary at Yale Divinity School stand with those who grieve and protest the easy access to weapons that ultimately leads to the destruction of families, communities, and our collective efforts at peace. We acknowledge that hate is among us. Granting hatred access to arms is foolish and fatal.

 

Through educating inspiring ministers, we at Andover Newton seek to cause love to flourish and hate to diminish. We mourn with those who mourn and resist the evil that results from hate.

 

~Sarah B. Drummond, Founding Dean of Andover Newton Seminary at Yale Divinity School