Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
How long before he's an atheist?
I wasn't going to write anything about this, because I just assumed one of the many people here who write much, much better than I do would address it better than I ever could. I haven't seen anything yet, so what the hell.
That something is wrong with Jim Adkisson, who shot up a Tennessee Unitarian Church this weekend during a childrens' production of "Annie" (why that is important is beyond me, but it tugs the heartstrings, right?) is indisputable. According to the above story, and to this one, Adkisson left a note in his truck that indicated he committed the shootings because of the Church's liberal policies (they want teh gays to have rights, dammit).
This is tragic, and my first thought when I heard about it Sunday afternoon, before any real information had been released, was to hope to Clcakdi that the shooter wasn't someone the Fundamentalists could make into an Evil Atheist. When the above articles came out, I thought "Okay, wish granted apparently." Regardless of Adkisson's religious views, shooting up a church because of their liberal views doesn't sound like something an Atheist would do.
But not so fast. Despite what Adkisson himself wrote, there's now a little something for the Religious Right to cling to. His neighbors say he "questioned Christianity", and one neighbor is quoted as saying Adkission "almost became angry" over a mention of the neighbor's daughter graduating from Bible college.
Now normally I wouldn't get too worked up over this; the shooter has explained his own actions, and the last story quoted is essentially just reporting information gleaned from talking to the shooter's neighbors. Nothing unusual there, and cases like this, when they make national news, tend to get over-reported to the point where every wanna-be psychiatrist and his brother wants to put their $0.02 US in.
But click on that last link and take a look in the title bar. It says "Neighbors: Accused shooter everyone's friend, questioned Christianity..." Fair enough, but now take a look at the actual URL in the address bar. It includes "neighbors-accused-shooter-everyones-friend-hated-c", with the 'c' presumably truncated from "Christianity." How long do you suppose it will be before "hated Christians" becomes the RR's favorite adjective when talking about this? Can't you just hear Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham blaming this on America moving away from Christian values? I guarantee some prominent, conservative talking head will start calling Adkisson an Atheist before it's all over.
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The Irony
About the only church that an avowed atheist can belong to is the Unitarian. There's a lot to be said for church membership. In an America where lots of people don't even know their neighbors, church is a place where people gather communally and provide a support system for each other. The woo gives you a reason to come together once or twice a week.
Unitarian...
or Unitarian Universalist? I think you may be thinking of the Unitarian Universalist Association, that would welcome atheists. Unitarian usually refers to a church that is typical, in most respects, of other Christian churches, they just reject the doctrine of the Trinity.
So they ARE two different
So they ARE two different groups! I have always been confused on this. I couldn't figure out why there were some Unitarians that I thought made a lot of sense and then others that just seemed to be spewing the same xian bs as everyone else.
Annie
"That something is wrong with Jim Adkisson, who shot up a Tennessee Unitarian Church this weekend during a childrens' production of "Annie" (why that is important is beyond me, but it tugs the heartstrings, right?) is indisputable. "
This bit of info had the same effect on me. Annie has always been near and dear to my heart.
I don't know from the quote
I don't know from the quote in the article whether he hated Christianity; in context, it sounds like it might have just been literalist (fundamentalist) Christianity with which he had a problem.
Eh, it's just fishing by the fundies, anyhow. The fact is that he specifically mentioned wanting to kill liberals and gays in his letter — not Christians. He didn't shoot up a Christian church, he shot up a Unitarian Universality church. It's not like it's hard to find a strictly Christian church in Tennessee.
The right-wing fathead pundits who didn't see, or didn't care, that their messages of hate would ultimately lead to a body count in the Culture War are trying to wash the blood off their hands. What a surprise.
If only he'd ponied up for a liberal hunting license, Jim Adkisson would be a free patriot today.
Excellent post.
Mike, thanks for the link to that piece of yours. Excellent post.
One of the reasons I didn't jump in on this event was because it seemed to be getting a lot of coverage in the haunts where I usually hang out, and generally I don't see the sense in rehashing material others are dealing with. But while I saw a fair amount of commentary, including a lot on dKos about the connections to the vast right wing noise machine, your take was fresh.
I know I say it often here, but these sorts of events are precisely the reason why I feel that liberal/libertarians such as myself need to challenge the prevailing notion that those on the left are anti-gun. I am a peaceful person, but I also learned a very long time ago that not standing up to bullies is a big mistake. Subverting that tendency to see 'liberals' (or gays, or atheists, et cetera) as being nothing but target practice would stop some of this bullshit rhetoric. And stopping that equation in the minds of mentally unstable loons like Adkisson might well avoid future tragedies.
Jim Downey
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Like Science Fiction? Read *or listen to* my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
what do you mean "how long?"
He's obviously an atheist already. After all "no true christian would bla bla bla..."
No worries . . .
. . . about your writing, Rob, and I'm glad that Brent bopped this up to the front page.
There is very little doubt that by this time next week if anyone remembers this, it will be in the context of "that atheist guy who hated Christians and shot up a church". As evidenced by the long debacle over at PZ's with the Jeezit, the facts don't matter at all to the religious nuts - they're happy to ignore and twist reality to fit their preconceived ideas. That this guy acted on the hate and lies poured into his brain, and documented it, means almost nothing. It doesn't fit with the popular belief system or media narrative, so it will be ignored.
Jim Downey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like Science Fiction? Read *or listen to* my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
Michael Savage
Of course I forgot to mention Michael Savage, but he'll probably say the church brought it on themselves because they didn't have proper Christian views. He'll probably laud the shooter as a misguided hero.
Rob Miles
--
There are only 10 types of people in the world;
those who understand binary and those who don't.
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