# Churches with guards **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 10, 2007, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-with-guards/429483 "2007-12-10T16:01:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-with-guards/429483/21 "2007-12-10T19:13:46Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville] The money issue certainly isn’t why we need guards at synagogues on holidays- Jewish law forbids handling money on Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur. We don’t pass collection plates then or on any ordinary Sabbath (when handling money is also forbidden), so that’s not the reason. Do most people who tithe to their church really take the money in in cash and put it in the collection plate? You’d think the church would be willing to take a check, instead- that would be easier and safer for everybody involved. [/QUOTE] There is a fair amount of cash in our collection plate every Sunday. Some tithe cash in their envelopes, others drop checks, others just deposit cash with no request for receipt. I typically pay my annual tithe in one check at the beginning of the year, and then drop cash in my envelopes on Sunday as well. There are often special donation events (Deacon’s fund, disaster assistance, etc.) and I don’t carry a checkbook with me. The only reason I have my envelopes is that I keep them in the car. BTW - the Disciples carried swords, so if having armed guards was good enough for Jesus it is good enough for me! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-with-guards/429483/22 "2007-12-10T20:33:55Z")
[QUOTE=Tastes of Chocolate] Of course, it would have been much better if several people in the congregation had pulled guns out and started shooting at the killer, all in a crowd of 7000. [/QUOTE] I’d much rather be in that situation than in one where the shooter is allowed to do as he pleases. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-with-guards/429483/23 "2007-12-10T20:50:26Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville] Do most people who tithe to their church really take the money in in cash and put it in the collection plate? You’d think the church would be willing to take a check, instead- that would be easier and safer for everybody involved. [/QUOTE] My church takes direct deposit and credit cards, too. But, when I look casually into the offering basket, there seems to be a bit of cash in there. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-with-guards/429483/24 "2007-12-10T20:55:25Z")
[QUOTE=Tastes of Chocolate] Per [CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/10/colorado.shootings/index.html), the female guard is a parishioner volunteer. The church put in extra security that morning, because of the shooting earlier in Arvada, CO. [/QUOTE] It is important to point this out, because starting hours after the shootings in Colorado Springs, the pro-gun people were on the radio in force claiming that the gunman was stopped by a private citizen who happened to be armed. This is false. She (apparantly with a law enforcement background) was armed and on the lookout specifically that morning because of the shootings that had happened in Denver 12 hours earlier. She was working (volunteering) as a security guard, she was not a regular parishioner who just happened to have a gun. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-with-guards/429483/25 "2007-12-10T21:21:44Z")
You’d think that somebody who gets killed in church would have a free pass straight to Heaven, and that as such they really ought not to mind if some random screwball takes a few potshots now and then. ---
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-with-guards/429483/26 "2007-12-10T22:46:17Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] You’d think that somebody who gets killed in church would have a free pass straight to Heaven, and that as such they really ought not to mind if some random screwball takes a few potshots now and then. [/QUOTE] With that logic, atheists shouldn’t mind either since they’ve got nothing to live for but themselves. You statement, and mine, seem to be of no value but to antagonize. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-with-guards/429483/27 "2007-12-11T13:33:34Z")
[QUOTE=Burton] I’m going to bet the shooter had some affiliation with this or another conservative christian institution as well. [/QUOTE] The first shooting site- Youth With A Mission- yep. Don’t yet know about New Life. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-with-guards/429483/28 "2007-12-11T16:27:58Z")
[QUOTE=Malodorous] That’s Matthew 12:7, isn’t it? [/QUOTE] [Luke 22:36](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2022:36;&version=47;), actually. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-with-guards/429483/29 "2007-12-11T20:22:26Z")
[QUOTE=Burton] After the second shooting incident in Colorado the shooter was killed by an armed guard [/QUOTE] [The police are now saying the gunman killed himself.](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/12/09/national/a131641S12.DTL&tsp=1) They’re also saying he was associated with the missionary training center in the past, but seemed to no longer identify as an evangelical Christian. ---
**Author:** ![JXJohns](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jxjohns/32/469_2.png) [@JXJohns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JXJohns)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-with-guards/429483/30 "2007-12-11T23:23:50Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville] [The police are now saying the gunman killed himself.](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/12/09/national/a131641S12.DTL&tsp=1) They’re also saying he was associated with the missionary training center in the past, but seemed to no longer identify as an evangelical Christian. [/QUOTE] The civilian volunteer shot him first and stopped any rampage he had planned. The coward did everyone a favor and finished the job when he realized someone was going to fight back. What a pussy. :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-with-guards/429483.md?page=1)