SECURING SANCTUARIES
GUNS IN CHURCH? MANY SEE NEED FOR DEFENSE
When Andrew McNeill and his family get ready for church on Sunday mornings, one of the last things he does before he leaves his house is slip his Glock into the waistband of his pants. “It’s actually a habit now,” said McNeill, who attends Pathways Church of Houston, an evangelical church northwest of downtown. “A lot of times when I’m carrying I don’t even realize I have it on me. People who don’t carry guns say they could never get used to it, but after a few weeks of carrying you just forget.”
In Harris County, where 163,377 people as of January had a license to carry a handgun, more than any other county in the state, McNeill is hardly the only person who carries a gun to Sunday services. He’s not even the only armed person at his 140-member church.
There are at least three other members of the congregation who regularly carry weapons at Pathways, McNeill said, not counting the offduty sheriff ’s deputy staked out by the nursery and Troy Skeen, the church’s executive pastor. They’re part of a volunteer security team that Skeen selected and trained to protect the church at the security business he owns.
“Needing to have armed people in a church might not seem right, but the fact is it’s the culture and the day that we’re living in,” said Skeen, who indeed carries a concealed firearm when he preaches. “We’ve got to do what we can to protect the church.”
Many churchgoers in the Houston area, where Harris County property records show there are nearly 3,000 buildings designated for religious use, are in agreement with Skeen. For others, the idea of guns in church isn’t a welcome one.
“It just feels inappropriate,” said Valerie Meisel, who attends Christ Church Cathedral, an Episcopal church on Texas Avenue where a note printed in the bulletin every Sunday states that carrying a concealed or openly visible firearm is prohibited on church property. “It’s totally contrary to what going to church is about.”
Regardless of where a congregation member might stand, whether or not they can bring a gun into a place of worship ultimately comes down to where they attend religious services.
While some churches in Houston prohibit concealed and open carry via posted signs, a statement in the bulletin, or spoken notice from a church official, there are others like Pathways
Church that don’t have an official policy. And when there isn’t written or verbal communication, anyone with a license to carry can bring a firearm — either concealed or openly visible — inside a place of worship by default.
In December, a little more than a month after a mass shooter at Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church killed 25 people before taking his own life, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton reminded Texans of this. In a legal opinion addressed to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Paxton explains that firearms are allowed in churches.
“Unless a church provides effective oral or written notice prohibiting the carrying of handguns on its property, a license holder may carry a handgun on church property as the law otherwise allows,” Paxton wrote.
The opinion, which was written to clarify the laws surrounding guns and security officers in places of worship after Sutherland Springs, didn’t change anything; laws stating that people could carry concealed or openly visible firearms into a place of worship had been in place since 1997 and 2016, respectively.
It’s common for places of worship in Houston to employ armed security officers, but they fall into different camps in regard to congregation members and guns. The Islamic Society of Greater Houston, which counts 22 mosques under its administration, bans firearms at all of its locations. Only a couple major Christian denominations have rules prohibiting firearms at all of their churches; most allow their churches to set policies autonomously.
Every Episcopal church in the state prohibits members from carrying both concealed and open firearms, a rule that’s laid out in the Episcopal Diocese of Texas’ Clergy Manual. Methodist churches, according to instructions from leaders at the United Methodist Church’s Texas Annual Conference, prohibit open carry across the state but leave the decision about concealed firearms up to individual churches.
Baptist churches are autonomous, and the Lutheran Evangelical Church of America also allows its churches to decide. Christ the King Lutheran Church on Rice Boulevard, for instance, has said no to both open carry and concealed guns.
“We don’t post the signs, but we’ve communicated to our congregation how we should respond,” said the Rev. Duane Larson, senior pastor at Christ the King. “Ushers on a given Sunday will explain to any visitors who are interested in the question that firearms are not allowed.”
Lakewood Church, the largest congregation in the country, has signs posted that prohibit open carry but the church allows for people to carry concealed weapons. Second Baptist, another Houston mega church, doesn’t post signs prohibiting either concealed or open carry.
The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston leaves the decision up to its Catholic parishes, and it “encourages each parish to develop a safety and security plan in consultation with local law enforcement,” according to a statement provided by the Archdiocese.
Jehovah’s Witnesses, who believe people shouldn’t own guns to protect themselves from other people, prohibit firearms in their Kingdom Halls.
Mosques in Houston set their own policies, but M.J. Khan, president of the Islamic Center of Greater Houston, said that, generally speaking, guns probably wouldn’t be allowed.
“In the Islamic faith, the mosque is a very sacred place, and it’s expected for people to come for peace and worship and to learn,” he said, noting that Houston mosques publicize their firearm rules via posted signs. “We want that environment to exist without the influence of firearms.”
There’s no record of how many churches in Texas prohibit or allow firearms, but Mark Yoakum, director of church ministries for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, said that judging from what he’s seen on the ground, he’d bet on there are more of the latter.
Yoakum has traveled all over the state to help churches create and implement customized security practices against would-be mass shooters since 2013. In December he started leading security training conferences, including firearm training, for church officials and members.
He said the seminars are a new service the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention began to offer to churches of any denomination after the mass shooting in Sutherland Springs.
“The only way a church can avoid people bringing in guns is if they say ‘no guns allowed,’ but I don’t find that many churches do that,” Yoakum said, noting that around 2,000 people have attended the seminars and more are scheduled. “Churches are more aware now. They’re saying we need to take action.”
The private security assessments that Yoakum provides to individual churches have become a sought-after service as well. He used to receive consultation requests from about 15 churches a year — “telling churches where they’re vulnerable and teaching them how to protect themselves,” he said — but since November, he’s gotten more than 100 requests.
“Churches are saying ‘Hey, come look at our place, tell us what’s going on,’ ” he said. “They’re concerned.”
Skeen, the armed pastor at Pathways Church, also has noticed the increase in concern. His business, Strategic Protection Solutions, began offering training classes specifically designed for churches and their members that “want to take the next step” in December.
Skeen said that last summer there probably wouldn’t have been much of a need for such services, which instruct licensed gun owners how to best stop a mass shooter, but leaders of six churches have taken the course so far this year.
“After Sutherland Springs, we were like ‘we need to offer something,’ ” he said. “We’ve got to step it up as far as what we’re doing to protect ourselves, and we encourage churches to get that additional training. If someone walks through door shooting people, you’re going to end up with more of a mess because you don’t have people trained properly.”