Monday, July 28, 2008

Accused Shooter Hated "Liberals, Gays"

From the Knoxville News Sentinel:
The shotgun-wielding suspect in Sunday’s mass shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church was motivated by a hatred of “the liberal movement,” and he planned to shoot until police shot him, Knoxville Police Chief Sterling P. Owen IV said this morning.

Jim D. Adkisson, 58, of Powell wrote a four-page letter in which he stated his “hatred of the liberal movement,” Owen said. “Liberals in general, as well as gays.”

The CNN report is here.

UPDATE: Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage, Sean Hannity on accused shooter's reading list.
Adkisson targeted the church, Still wrote in the document obtained by WBIR-TV, Channel 10, "because of its liberal teachings and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country, and that he felt that the Democrats had tied his country's hands in the war on terror and they had ruined every institution in America with the aid of media outlets."

Adkisson told Still that "he could not get to the leaders of the liberal movement that he would then target those that had voted them in to office."

Our own Eileen blogs on this as well.

9 comments:

Leonard said...

To Bishops for WHOM this CONCERNS:

Dear Episcopalian/Anglican Bishops meeting for The Lambeth Conference at Kent University/Canterbury Cathedral, England.

I strongly suggest you start paying attention to the fear/hate-generating words of Archbishops Akinola/Niberia, Henri Orombi/Uganda and Bul/Sudan...these fellows have somehow become self-proclaimed "Godly" figures and leaders of HATE and exclusion at all levels of life/churchlife at The Anglican Communion.

Please don't subscribe to ANY sort of a convent or Windsor "continuing" document that is put before YOU that excludes, or temporarily prohibits, ANY of your spiritally/emotionally qualified sisters and brothers at The Anglican Communion from being "called" to ANY level of Churchlife.

The results of fear/hate PREACHED, or instigated, against LGBT Christians is clear...Knoxville Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church is the latest place where victims were made by a religious bigot/exclusionist spewing hate.

We are all responsible, we are all challenged to "love thy neighbor"...ALL of our neighbors.

Anonymous said...

I'll tell ya one thing: GAFCON (and their sympathizers who did attend Lambeth) is a HECK of a lot more responsible for this crime, than TEC is for Islamists killing Anglicans in Sudan!

Anonymous said...

The semi-official Swedish Telegram Bureau has fooled all the Swedish newspapers including the big nation-wide ones that this was someone temporarily ot of his mind in a Presbyterian church.

(only proves how incomprehensible the word Unitarian is over here ;=)

rick allen said...

"GAFCON (and their sympathizers who did attend Lambeth) is a HECK of a lot more responsible for this crime, than TEC is for Islamists killing Anglicans in Sudan!"

How exactly is either responsible for either?

David said...

Rick,

I think the point is that words have power. And when a church teaches hate for a particular group, it can contribute to an already mentally "unhinged" person going over the edge.

And there's no doubt that conservative churches (whether "Anglican," Southern Baptist, AoG, or whatever) have contributed some extraordinarily vile rhetoric about "gays, liberals, and uppity women" to our culture here in the U.S.

You can't continually dump sewage into a clean lake and not expect it to befoul it eventually, so to speak.

Pam said...

The shooter was a troubled man and the hatred spewed over the airwaves (and at times from the pulpit)led him to believe in the "righteousness" of his hatred against liberals in general and gays in particular. And, when reading the comments to the reports of the shooting on various news sites, there are others out there filled with the same hate - a hate that cannot be abated for even a moment empathy with the victims including the children who were witnesses to this horrific sight. Some of these commentators metaphorically wave the bible as justification for their reactions.

If reports are correct, there was a righteous individual in that church, Greg McKendry, who by many reports took the brunt of the shots to save others.

I know that mocking the UU Church as unchristian is a pass time of both liberal and conservative Episcopalians (not all but some). But, I would feel better if more of the Episcopalian blogs I have visited in the last few days had offered a prayer for the people of this UU church

Anonymous said...

Interesting development on the California initiative to rescind marriage rights for same-sex couples.

According to the Los Angeles Times:

***

Petitions circulated to qualify the initiative for the ballot said the measure would amend the state Constitution "to provide that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

In a move made public last week and applauded by same-sex marriage proponents, the attorney general's office changed the language to say that Proposition 8 seeks to "eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry."

Jennifer Kerns, spokeswoman for the Protect Marriage coalition, called the new language "inherently argumentative" and said it could "prejudice voters against the initiative."

Proponents of the measure said they want voters to see ballot language similar to what was on the petitions that began circulating last fall.

"This is a complete about-face from the ballot title that was assigned" when the measure was being circulated for signatures, Kerns said.

On the other side, Steve Smith, campaign manager for No on Proposition 8, applauded the language change.

"What Proposition 8 would do is eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry, which is exactly what the attorney general put in the title of the measure," he said. "It will be very difficult for them to win the case."

Political analysts on both sides suggest that the language change will make passage of the initiative more difficult, noting that voters might be more reluctant to pass a measure that makes clear it is taking away existing rights.

...

Gareth Lacy, a spokesman for the attorney general, denied that there was any political motivation for the move.

Instead, he said, the change was necessary because of the dramatic turn of events that have taken place since the petitions were circulated: namely that the California Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage and thousands of gay couples have since wed.

"The title and summary accurately reflect the measure," Lacy said.

He noted that language in titles and summaries often changes between the time a measure is circulated for signatures and when it appears on the ballot.

***

The proponents of the ballot initiative are planning to sue the Attorney General about the revised language.

The full story can be read here.

JimB said...

In a related development, Archbishop Akinola has announced that having read his 4 page application, he has decided to ordain Jim D. Adkisson a new missionary bishop to North America. The archbishop noted that, "His ability to act directly will compliment Bp. Minns more indirect approach while advancing our ideals and doctrines."

;;sigh;;


FWIW
jimB

Anonymous said...

More info on the shooting:

How you can help --a Knoxville relief fund will help with the care of some of the victims who were seriously injured.

Knoxville comes together