What do you get when you mix one part conservative evangelical Christian, one part gun control, and sprinkle in a little Disney magic? The answer is a feel-good excuse as to why the second amendment should be done away with, which is exactly what director Abigail Disney’s documentary The Armor of Light is all about.
The media is absolutely applauding the grand-niece of beloved Walt Disney for making an anti-gun documentary from the perspective of an evangelical Christian pastor. Daily Beast writer Teo Bugbee gushed, “… the new film The Armor of Light offers a look at the issue of gun control with fresh eyes.” And, yes, exploiting Christianity to bolster banning guns is a pretty fresh take.
The “uniqueness” of the film rests on the over-arching question of “whether being pro-gun is consistent with being pro-life.” In reality, the flick is not simply about a Christian proponent of peace; it’s a strategic liberal propaganda attempt at advancing the gun banning agenda. And it’s about the only time you’ll see liberals praising Christianity — when they can manipulate it for their benefit. Bugbee summarized:
Namely, we experience this film through the eyes of two evangelical Christians determined to make a change in this country’s gun policy—Lucy McBath, the mother of Florida shooting victim Jordan Davis, and Reverend Rob Schenck, a pastor whose connection with McBath moved him to action. The Armor of Light is about the issue of guns, but it is also a document of Christian life in America at this heightened moment of political discontent.
It also about chastising those who defend the argument, “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” Praising Disney, Variety wrote, “… her documentary is clearly just the beginning of a new conversation in the gun debate, one spurred by a rare and refreshing instance of a clergyman swimming against the tide within his political and religious sphere[,]” and “[e]ven as it delves into some of the most painfully relevant issues of the fraught present moment, “The Armor of Light” is notable for its general avoidance of overt conflict.”
Indiewire stated “[The Armor of Light] raises a number of important questions about our nation’s attitudes towards gun policy and safety and how human life is valued (or not).” The “or not” obviously implies that law abiding citizens who choose to defend themselves don’t sufficiently value the lives of those they would defend against. Contrast that with Disney’s personal views on human value and number one “struggle” in making the film:
“My biggest challenge was managing my own feelings about the pro-life/pro-choice debate. I had come into the conversation with the minister in our film with a conscious desire to be a peace builder -- to reach out across a political gulf that divided us and to deliberately seek and inhabit the common ground we shared. But once in a while, there was a moment when I felt so angry, and so defensive of my own point of view, that I had a hard time not shouting out in disagreement. This came up again and again in the edit as well. I had promised everyone we filmed that they would be treated with respect, and it is really hard not to want to undercut someone you disagree with when you have all the power in the world to do so in an edit room!”
So Disney is willing to condemn gun owners as not valuing life but has anger issues against those who don’t support abortion? Got it.
Vulture hailed the film as a “beautiful, conflicted piece of work.” Vulture also commended Lucy McBath for coming out with her moving, tragic story and condemned Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” defense calling it “insane, evil, stupid, disgusting.”
The irony of this film is that it has nothing to do with breaking away from religion, swimming against the current, or actually believing “[w]e have replaced God with our guns as the protector[.]” Since America was settled, God and guns have not been mutually exclusive. In fact, to the progressive mind, they’re inextricably linked. (Remember Obama disdaining those who bitterly “cling to guns or religion.”)
So take the film for what it really is: elite liberals using something they don’t understand (religion) to argue for taking away something they don’t like (guns) from other people. In the meantime, praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!
