Why should we take moral direction from Max Lucado?

In the whirlwind of words that have followed the Newtown tragedy, one prominent religious voice has been Max Lucado, a Texas pastor and best-selling author. CNN’s Belief Blog interviewed him for its first response to the trauma. The Huffington Post ran a Christmas prayer from him during these dark days. And Lucado’s words are being quoted by folks like Jim Denison at the Christian Post.

There is nothing particularly troubling about Lucado’s responses themselves. He told CNN that pastors would have to rework their sermons for Sunday. He prayed at HuffPo that somehow, someway Christ would be born “anew in us.” But in these sad times, when we search for moral voices to follow, we may want to consider the source. In this case, we may find that Max Lucado’s own work has contributed to our culture of violence—even gun violence.

Lucado’s breakout book No Wonder They Call Him the Savior includes an entire chapter on Bernie Goetz. You may not remember, but in the 1980s, Goetz shot four alleged muggers in the New York City subway. He was white; they were black. Goetz’s gun was unregistered; it was not legal for him to have it or to use it. He was found guilty on several counts but served less than a year in prison. He became a National Rifle Association poster child.