Statement of Rev. Phil Jones

Church of the Brethren (State College, PA)

My name is Phil Jones. I have served the last six years as director of the Washington Office for the Church of the Brethren. In this capacity I have served the larger church, including congregations and individuals in the Philadelphia region, in regards to issues of peace and justice.

It has been a long journey that has brought me before this court this afternoon. A journey of faith, and of conviction. My work, and my life, for my fifty plus years has been that of nonviolence. It has become my way of life, one shared and so clearly articulated and given witness to by many of my friends here today. One grounded in the nonviolent teachings of Christ, and in a God of absolute and true love and shalom for all persons. For these reasons, as well as others, I thank the court for allowing me the next few minutes to share my reasons and intent for visiting the gun shop of Jim Colisimo on Wed., January 14 of this year. Not to cause harm or unnecessary hardship, but simply to give witness to my belief as a person of nonviolence, and to act with integrity within my call to peace.

God's call in my life has challenged me to consider with deep understanding the words shared from the prophet Micah: to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with my God. That is why I was there in that gun shop, on that afternoon.

You have heard from testimony, and from eloquent witness from others, as to the deep violence that weapons bring to our culture of today. For the past six years of my professional life I have served the church in bringing to light this violence. It was my responsibility as a faith based advocate in Washington, DC, to challenge our members, and others, to speak boldly and with conviction to those who legislate and those who execute the laws of our land.

I have had opportunity to do this through participation in congressional hearings, direct congressional lobby efforts, and grassroots organizing and strategy campaigns. These efforts have had minimal impact and success. They have often been countered by the powerful voice and deep pockets of national gun advocacy efforts. Our federal laws concerning gun violence remain weak and ineffective. They do little to curb the violence that guns bring to the streets of Philadelphia. Not only do our weapons kill and maim those of our own neighborhoods and communities, they also flow freely into neighboring countries, fueling the same culture of violence upon our brothers and sisters of different regions and societies.

In my work I have served as national co-chair of an ecumenical body known as the Decade to Overcome Violence. A ministry program of the World Council of Churches. Since the turn of this new millennium, we the church have committed to seeking ways to bring an end to gun violence. We, along with other ecumenical and interfaith bodies have written statements, published resources, been involved in political advocacy and prayed without ceasing for an end to the violence of our streets, homes, schools, offices, and yes even our own court rooms and houses of worship that are shattered so violently by gunfire.

One such statement comes from our sister denomination, the Presbyterian Church, USA, where they state with conviction: "A faithful Church needs to hear about gun violence from the pulpit, from the Sunday School Class, from women's circles and men's groups. We need to talk about the problem. Some people, particularly those who believe that guns save lives will be angry that the discussion is taking place at all and will say this is not an appropriate subject to discuss in church. They will want the preacher to pray about it, because that's what the church does, right? Well, partly. But prayer is not enough; we must talk and we must act. Our voice must become as powerful and as deep in its strength as of those who counter our work. We must renounce the violence that is taking over our cities and towns ... renounce, and organize... perhaps a group of members and or friends, and go to places in our neighborhood where there have been shootings or killings and have a time of worship and of prayer and confession. In those few moments the church can tell the world that we deplore gun violence and there is a better way to solve anger and injustice than killing our neighbors who are also God's children."

Each and every faith tradition we represent here today has similar statements of conviction and faith against gun violence.

And so we, on January 14 and 16 of this year, knew we could no longer simply educate and advocate. We were called to give witness to who we were. To who our society has become. And to ask our brothers and sisters, all brothers and sisters, those who manufacture weapons, those who sell weapons, those who use weapons with violence, those who are innocently harmed by weapons and those of us who do not give constant witness against the violence of weapons - to consider who and with what regard can this possibly be reconciled with the God of love who gives us life?

This is the primary reason I entered the gun shop on that Wednesday afternoon. In search of reconciliation for the violence of who we have become. To challenge one brother (Jim Colisimo), on this one occasion, to courageously and with conviction join and step out boldly with us, in a new way.

We must, together, seek to heed God's call to a better understanding. We must, your Honor.