Guns in churches?

"I can only imagine how my experience of worshipping the Prince of Peace would be enhanced by the warm feeling of blue steel tucked in its holster between my arm and torso," writes Mike Ruffin in his blog, "On The Jericho Road."

"I can only imagine how my trust in God would soar because of my knowledge that if anyone threatens me during my prayers, I could blow him away as fast as you can say 'Amen.'"

His tongue-in-cheek comments come as part of what is actually a very thoughtful look at the possibility that some want Georgia law to allow people to freely carry guns in churches and college classes. Even a turn-the-other-cheek kind of guy understands that sometimes force is needed to keep the peace.

Ruffin even contemplates going to the pulpit with a gun tucked into this belt. But he's more afraid of what will happen in the congregation. He jokes:

"I think that I would prefer to face a giant subterranean people-eating worm with nothing but a slingshot than a congregation of armed Baptists. I mean, we preachers know that we face the possibility of criticism but to know that we are facing the possibility of confrontation with an angry and gun-toting church member raises the stakes considerably."

Ruffin is pastor of The Hill Baptist Church in Augusta and Adjunct Professor of Religion at Anderson (SC) University.