William J. Kole’s career as a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press has taken him around the world, from Europe to Africa to the Middle East. In his latest book, he turns his focus back to the United States and its evangelical Christian community, which was his spiritual home for many decades. In Guns We Trust: The Unholy Trinity of White Evangelicals, Politics, and Firearms invites readers into an uncomfortable but necessary conversation about the relationship between Christianity and gun culture, calling American evangelicals to be shaped by the message of Jesus rather than the politics of fear and distrust. Kole spoke to Brett Potter from his home in Warwick, R.I.

Brett Potter: Even though you no longer identify as an evangelical, you still seem to feel deeply connected to that tradition. You’re careful in the book not to demonize or caricature white American evangelicals. Was that one of your goals?

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William J. Kole: I had two goals, and in some ways they work at cross-purposes. My first was to pull the curtain back on unambiguous complicity on the part of white evangelicals when it comes to the issue of guns.

At the same time, a friend who read the book told me it felt like a prophetic lament. I think he was onto something. Not that I’m claiming to be a prophet, but I desperately want evangelicals to read it and reconsider their position on faith in firearms. These things are like oil and water.

I’m not shy about calling out the betrayal of faith that I see as a former evangelical. But I want to hold out an olive branch and say, “Hey, can we talk?”

BP: How significant is the influence of white evangelicals when it comes to gun culture in the United States?

WK: Evangelicals in the United States own far more firearms than any other subset of the population — more than police officers, military veterans and hunters. They also play an outsized role in the gun manufacturing industry. I spoke with some who said they genuinely believe that they are honouring God by making the most well-crafted AR-15 military-style assault rifles that they can.

But the biggest reason why white evangelicals are complicit is that they form a potent political block. With more than 78 million of them in the United States, they can be counted on to vote for politicians who share their........

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