Man shoots churchgoers over liberal views
28 July 2008 by StardustFeel the “conservative xian love” in Tennessee. If you disagree, just shoot them damn libruls!
(I wonder if next he will say his imaginary friend told him to do it.)
Police: Man shot churchgoers over liberal views
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Knoxville’s police chief says the man accused of a shooting that killed two people at a Tennessee church targeted the congregation because of its liberal social stance.
Chief Sterling Owen IV said Monday that police found a letter in Jim D. Adkisson’s car. Owen said Adkisson was apparently frustrated over being out of work and had a “stated hatred of the liberal movement.”
Adkisson is charged with first-degree murder. Police say a gunman entered the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church during a children’s performance Sunday. No children were hurt.
The church is known for advocating women’s and gay rights and founding an American Civil Liberties Union chapter.
For those in fundieland, don’t forget to go out and buy your bullet-proof vests and body armor before election day!
Update: Video…Xians “trying to make sense” of the tragedy. Several people interviewed stated the usual programmed Xian response that they were “praying for the victims”.
28 July 2008, on 11:37 am
It’s just amazing how sick one can become when drinking the god juice.
28 July 2008, on 12:05 pm
Yet another example of the so-called “moral compass” that religion provides going wackadoo.
28 July 2008, on 12:09 pm
How often do liberals flip out and shoot people over their conservative views? I’m not saying it’s never happened, I’m just saying I’ve never heard of it.
Stuff like this really makes me wonder if there is ever any hope of changing these people…
28 July 2008, on 12:16 pm
Apparently this man also was ticked that his food stamps got cut back. I didn’t know that denying food stamps to people was part of the liberal agenda.
28 July 2008, on 12:23 pm
Jess, and I always find it interesting how many conservatives welcome evil liberal handouts when they are available.
28 July 2008, on 2:15 pm
Apparently this man also was ticked that his food stamps got cut back. I didn’t know that denying food stamps to people was part of the liberal agenda.
I always thought Food Stamps were part of the liberal agenda. So why was this guy even accepting them in the first place? I would think that he would do the responsible Conservative thing and take responsibility for himself and go out and find a job that pays him enough to provide for his family. And he probably needed to pray to God more to help him find such a job.
Since he was willing to partake in such a liberal program in the first place, I think we are dealing with something similar to those people who have hidden gay urges and try to suppress them and lie to themselves about them by going to the anti-gay extreme. This guys was really a liberal and he hated himself for it.
28 July 2008, on 3:54 pm
Better headline: “Psychotic loser gets his 15 minutes of fame by killing innocent people” Because, as it is, the victim-blaming implication being adopted by the media is that by NOT appearing to be liberal and by NOT “tolerating” gays and the ACLU, you can avoid being gunned down in Tennessee. There is no such guarantee.
28 July 2008, on 6:58 pm
Well, if that usher had been packin’ heat, the outcome woulda been diffurnt. That’s what happens when folks go church unarmed.
The report I read said that he picked that church in particular, because of it’s “liberalism” and because his ex was a long time member.
All of the fundies will be praying for the victims, but not sending any letters to their reps to let them know that maybe everybody carrying weapons ain’t the best policy.
I wonder if the reaction might be a bit different if the guy had been an atheist who ran into a fundie church and shouted , “All of you fucking GOBotherers need to die!”, before he started blasting away.
28 July 2008, on 7:18 pm
You guys are blinded by ideaology. You have no idea why this man did what he did, the only thing we do know is he had big problems w/ christianity….sounds like it could be any of you.
28 July 2008, on 7:26 pm
It’s very disconcerting that the only reaction for possible “motive” that is presented in this clip is from a woman who says he was hostile to Christianity. This will most likely be dressed up by the Religious Right as a natural result of the “militant” new atheism that is poisoning people’s minds and launching an assault on Christianity. The more compelling point that this guy hated this church because of its liberal, open-arms stance to all human beings will be buried in the frenzy.
paz
28 July 2008, on 7:36 pm
I always find it interesting how many conservatives welcome evil liberal handouts when they are available.
I bet I know one you could name!
28 July 2008, on 9:04 pm
I’m sure the NRA is already issuing the “Guns don’t kill liberal humanists, people kill liberal humanists” screed.
28 July 2008, on 10:22 pm
You have no idea why this man did what he did, the only thing we do know is he had big problems w/ christianity
Listen Mike, have your read the news stories? The church he chose is a Unitarian church, full of secular humanists and deists and non-specific theists. A mix of people, not a strictly theistic congregation. He didn’t like LIBERALS and the “liberal agenda”. He was a conservative and most likely a screwed up Christian himself. He was despondent because of lack of work. He was down and out. His food stamps were being cut back by the loving xians that are in government now. His actions were because of economic reasons and his unfortunate situation. Of course, YOU, I and everyone else cannot be certain of his true motivations or what was going on inside his head. Maybe that will come out when he is examined by psychiatrists.
Christians always go into persecution mode when these things happen. Poor me. Never questioning why your non-existent god never shows up.
28 July 2008, on 10:40 pm
Stardust:
I haven’t been following the story on the teevee, ’cause I don’t got one. I’m guessing that fucking crazy fossil Pat Roberts or one of the other professional KKKristians has uttered the words. “It was a miracle that more weren’t killed.”, “It was by the Grace of GOD that those notreally christians were not ALL killed!” or something along those lines.
28 July 2008, on 11:02 pm
I agree with paz’s observation; the one woman commenting about her obviously prejudiced interpretation of the shooter’s attitude about “Christianity” seemed to lay open vague implications of some kind of…Booga-booga!…horrifying…evil…
‘godlessness’ afoot (a-hoove?).
Also, the old “thoughts and prayers” routine reminds me of my long ago, ex-Cat-lick upbringing; when, even as a kid, I wondered…
“Why, especially, do the DEAD need to be prayed for?” Somewhat later, of course, in my ongoing skeptical questioning days, my query would be more like:
“What the fuck is with this so-called, All-Knowing, kind, and loving Deity, that requires official mumbo-jumbo rituals and Jeebus jabbering by the still living morons? What an outrageously strict, unjustly demanding, and mean spirited asshole the supposedly existent, invisible, Sky-Daddy seems to be!”
Well…I may be somewhat exaggerating my memory on the whole subject…the years HAVE added a certain “sting” to my criticisms.
Not that anyone would notice, of course!
Could it also be a sign of impending…Al Z. Heimers disease?
Ummm…What the Bejeebus did I just type?
Where am I…WHO am I, anyway? And, how the fuck did I get here?
Seriously…In my (surprising?) opinion…”Religions” ARE totally made-up insanity; and, not surprisingly, cause an endless stream of OTHER insane variations and behaviors!
Oh…And…ummm…by the way…
Have a nice day?
28 July 2008, on 11:03 pm
democommie, and my guess is that many “true Christians” say this congregation had it coming for being “evil libruls” and supporting gay rights. I bet the GodHatesFags morons would be there protesting the funerals of the shooting victims if they could.
29 July 2008, on 12:37 am
Shit, I used to play gigs at the local Unitarian compound down KY way. Not just me, but my whole band, so you know everybody involved was going to hell in a handbasket anyway. In all the endless media coverage of the shooting, the dude’s letter, his pitiful life, and all, I think the most important factor in his choice of shooting sites- above and beyond any conservative/liberal/confederate/normal window dressing- was the ex in attendance. I’m just willing to bet if he could have caught her at Wal-mart, he’d have scrawled a manifesto against that fucking smiling face that marks down prices.
29 July 2008, on 9:25 am
The NRA is probably cheering right now. The UUA is considered “anti-gun” by them (disclaimer: I’m both a UU atheist and a life member of the NRA, go figure) in their usual paranoid “these people hate us, so we hates them bak” style.
T
29 July 2008, on 10:49 am
Guess what was on his reading list? Books at his home were authored by Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Michael Savage. frightwingers don’t get the irony of the title of Savage’s book “Liberalism is a Mental Disorder”.
29 July 2008, on 10:59 am
^^ Jess, that explains it all.
29 July 2008, on 12:02 pm
Has anyone seen Christopher Hitchens debate? I’ve heard he is going to be debating D’Souza in St. Lous September 10th. I found this website http://www.godontrialdebate.com
29 July 2008, on 2:48 pm
Saving Abel, stop spamming people’s blogs!
29 July 2008, on 8:08 pm
Once again, xtians try to blame shootings on atheists and other godless heathens. Why am I not surprised?
How about this law: If you own (and believe in) a book that commands you to kill others, you cannot be allowed to purchase, own, inherit, or carry a gun.
It’s for everyone’s safety, really.
30 July 2008, on 8:39 am
“How often do liberals flip out and shoot people over their conservative views?”
Much as I would like to- sounds like wonderful fun, you know?- I am deterred by such considerations as; the pain I’d be inflicting on the families of these bozos(somebody’s got to love them, right?), the innate knowledge that I have no right to the property of another up to and including his or her life itself(because I know that, for mankind to live in close quarters without descending into complete chaos, certain boundaries must be respected), that, even though I’ve seen “Ol’ Yeller”, and I realize how rabid beasts must be dealt with, I keep thinking “they can’t really be this rabid, can they?”, and, lastly, my creature comforts vis a vis my living quarters for the next several decades. Funny, nowhere in there is a consideration of anyone’s eternal well-being.
“How about this law: If you own (and believe in) a book that commands you to kill others, you cannot be allowed to purchase, own, inherit, or carry a gun.”
The laws are already in place. We just need to edit that DSM-IV to properly include A.I.F.S.(Adult Imaginary Friend Syndrome). I understand thorazine can work wonders.
31 July 2008, on 2:07 am
Actually Stardust, Adkisson was reported to be openly hostile towards Christianity (http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jul/27/neighbors-accused-shooter-everyones-friend-hated-c/). From what I’ve been reading he didn’t target the Unitarians because of their religious beliefs, but because he viewed them as being enablers of some ‘Liberal/Homosexual Agenda’.
I know it’s almost a reflex when something like this happens to blame someone’s deluded religious beliefs. But in this case, it appears to be a matter of a purely secular delusion.
31 July 2008, on 5:24 am
I live in Oak Ridge, Tn. I work in Knoxville. So, yeah, this thing hits a bit close to home. Heard about it a few days ago, of course, but nothing really prepares you for this sort of insanity.
31 July 2008, on 10:23 am
but because he viewed them as being enablers of some ‘Liberal/Homosexual Agenda’
And where does this sort of thinking come from? The article you linked to says he went to church all of his life so to take issue with the “liberal agenda” had to be because he was in conflict with some inner religious beliefs instilled in him as a child. His conservative brainwashing came to surface. Of course the news media isn’t going to put that speculation out there in such a “godly” country.
And of course the news media is going to put the spin on it that he was some sort of Christian hater in general and interview people to back up the message they are trying to convey because we all know that no Christian would do anything like this. (snark)
We often have to look a lot deeper than what the news reporters spew.
31 July 2008, on 8:18 pm
Here’s a good question posed by Chris Wilson at Slate
Is Killing Liberals a Hate Crime?
5 August 2008, on 5:11 pm
Tragic as this may be, there’s hope that day they’ll all kill each other. On second thought, by the time that comes, we’ll be all history cause we’ll be the first targets