Christine’s Comments (group member since Mar 05, 2018)

Christine’s comments from the UMW Program Readers group.

I'm now working on next year. I intend to complete Level 4 in 2019 as well.

I completed Level 4 of the program at the beginning of March, 2018. I hope there will be others out there who will do the same! Simi Valley United Methodist Church is a reading church. Let's let the world know it!

Here's my review of America and Its Guns:

If I were president, I'd make this book required reading of everyone in the entire U.S. So many Americans have lost their minds when it comes to guns. Atwood explains what's really going on in the gun empire and it involves turning guns into a kind of religion. In fact, Warren Cassidy, a former NRA exec, actually said "you would get a far better understanding of the NRA if you were approaching us as one of the great religions of the world"! This "religion" and the idolatry that afflicts its adherents results in over 30,000 gun deaths in the U.S. every year like clockwork!

Atwood brings to light so many shocking facts that this book really is a revelation. Who knew that gun deaths in the U.S. from just 18 years (1979 - 1997) exceed all the deaths from every war we've ever fought from the Revolutionary War through 1991? Who knew that "children in the U.S. are 12 times more likely to die from firearms injury than children in 25 other industrialized nations combined"? We aren't really allowed to study these facts or openly discuss solutions because of the idiotic legislation the NRA has forced into existence. The 50 laws and policies that Atwood lists in chapter 15 as perpetuating murder and disorder in the U.S. would curdle your blood. Our policies hamstring our own law enforcement personnel and put them at unconscionable risk. Our poor regulation invites the Mexican cartel to buy their weapons of choice in the U.S., which is wreaking havoc and costing lives in cities across our southern border. READ THIS BOOK. Knowledge is power.

I just finished another book that I would like to recommend to everyone. It will rock your world: America and its Guns by James E. Atwood. It's a bonus book, which means you can count it twice in the program. I gave it a 5 star rating.

I have another book to recommend. It's Good God, Lousy World, and Me by Holly Burkhalter. It's a very personal memoir that answers several basic questions of faith by a noted human rights activist. It's an inspiration, and got an average grade of 4.3 out of 5 on Amazon!

If you have a favorite book in the program, please share it here. I just finished The Round House by Louise Erdrich and I heartily recommend it to members who enjoy fiction. It won the National Book Award in 2012 and it's excellent!