OGDEN -- Two local church leaders have very different views about whether guns should be allowed in churches.
In light of recent shootings and violence in churches across the country, the ministers have offered very different responses to ensure their safety.
Shannon Schreyer , pastor of God's Place, an Assemblies of God church in Ogden, said he feels relatively safe having a church in Ogden as opposed to other locations across the country.
But he said planning for safety still is key.
"It's wisdom to have some sort of plan in place," Schreyer said.
He said his plan involves members of his church who are trained and prepared to respond.
"There are a lot of law enforcement in the Air Force, people who are in our congregation," he said. "Most are required to have a concealed weapon. We've always felt very comfortable with that."
Schreyer said at national meetings for his church affiliate, there are full workshops on congregational safety.
"Some are even hiring off-duty police officers to do that sort of thing," he said.
But at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, the Rev. Susan Beem Beery said she asks herself, "What would Jesus do?" and comes up with a totally different answer regarding guns in church.
She said a few years ago when universities were addressing whether to allow concealed weapons on campus, the Episcopal churches passed a resolution not to allow guns in their buildings.
She said at that time, Episcopal churches posted signs telling visitors that their guns were not welcome inside.
"I just take my golden retriever with me," she said.
But she also outlined extra measures members in her building and at other churches are taking to ensure safety.
She said they are more careful these days about locking the doors and about making sure they know who is at the door.
Video cameras are doing a lot to ensure safety at churches, she said.
Beem Beery said she admired St. Paul's Lutheran Church and school for having a security system that requires visitors to ring a bell and wait for someone on the inside to push a button to unlock the door.
But she said she doesn't believe guns in churches make them safer.
"I would be a whole lot less safe with a gun in my church," she said. "I don't know what the heck to do with one."
But a Detroit minister who wears a handgun under his robe knew what to do with his gun last week when someone with a criminal intent visited his church.
The Rev. Lawrence Adams teaches his flock at the Westside Bible Church to turn the other cheek.
But the 54-year-old retired police lieutenant is one of several clergymen who say it's up to them to protect their parishioners in church.
"As a pastor, I'm referred to as a shepherd," Adams said. "Shepherds have the responsibility of watching over their flock. Do I want to hurt somebody? Absolutely not!"
Responding to a break-in at his church Sunday evening, Adams surprised a burglar carrying out a bag of loot and shot the man in the abdomen after the man swung the bag at him.
The burglar survived -- for which Adams is grateful -- but the minister said he could have been hurt or killed if he had not been armed.
Detroit had the nation's highest homicide rate last year among cities of at least 500,000 residents. The city has been losing manufacturing jobs for decades, and these days about one in four working-age residents is without a job.
Before 2000, anyone who wanted to carry a concealed weapon in Michigan had to show a need to do so. Now, gun owners simply have to pass a stringent background check and complete eight hours of handgun training.
Michigan allows pastors to decide if someone registered to carry a handgun can do so for protection inside churches.
The clergy in Detroit who arm themselves say they do so because of the high overall crime rate. But churchgoers elsewhere have been the target of violent attacks several times in recent years:
- Last year in a New Jersey church, a man fatally shot his estranged wife and a man who intervened in the attack.
- A pastor was found stabbed to death in August in an Oklahoma church.
- A Maryville, Ill., preacher was gunned down during his Sunday sermon in March.
- In December 2007, a gunman killed two people at a Christian youth mission center near Denver and two others at a megachurch in Colorado Springs.
- Near Detroit, a man was shot to death in 2003 while worshipping in a Catholic church.
- An attacker fatally shot a woman and wounded a child inside another Detroit church three years ago because of a domestic dispute.
"I don't know what kind of issues people are bringing with them. You could be running from an estranged husband, boyfriend," said Bishop Charles Ellis III, pastor of the 6,500-member Greater Grace Temple in Detroit.
Ellis said he sometimes carries a gun, but never in the pulpit. His church has a "ministry of defense" for Sunday services made up of about 18 armed congregants who are off-duty law enforcement officers.
Adams said most -- if not all -- of Westside's 50 members have supported his actions after encountering the burglar.
"People want to look at Christians and the church as believers in God and ask,' Why doesn't God protect you?" Adams said. "The reality is God has given man free will. We have to use our God-given talents and protect ourselves."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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