Unitarians speak out about the politics of the church shooting

The Boston Globe has an excellent article on how rattled the Unitariasn are by the shooting by domestic terrorist Jim Adkisson in the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. The liberal denomination is aghast at the declared motivations of the crime.

"The first reaction is, 'Why a Unitarian Universalist church, and why go in there when there are children there and try to kill people because of liberalism?' " said the Rev. Kristen Harper, minister of the Unitarian Church of Barnstable on Cape Cod.

"Even though he's crazy, you still wonder, why a liberal church, and how does shooting up liberals make sense?" she said. "For people to use violence against us, it's really sad."

..."If you ask members of our congregations in the South, they will tell you that they function as sanctuaries in an environment that is dominated by the more fundamentalist Christian traditions, and they're quite clear that one of the functions they play is to be sanctuaries for persons who have a hard time finding sanctuary elsewhere," said the denomination's president, the Rev. William G. Sinkford, who also traveled to Knoxville Monday.

"The shooter clearly articulated that he had a problem with what he described as the liberal movement and said that because he couldn't get to the leaders of the liberal movement, he was going to attack those who supported them," Sinkford said.

"But there's a vast difference between having a philosophical disagreement with someone and entering a sanctuary with a sawed-off shotgun and beginning to shoot, and my judgment is he lost the battle with his demons," he said.

In wingnut land, they are desperately trying to disconnect Adkisson from their shared political beliefs, deeming it as simply mental illness. Well, I guess on the left have come to the conclusion that a significant portion of the right is suffering from some sort of delusion. Jesus' General wrote a letter to Confederate Yankee:

Your post on the Knoxville church shooting was just about perfect. I particularly enjoyed how you admonished those who would use the tragedy to "go on a shrieking political bender," after you so shrilly declared it to be an example of Christian persecution.

Please note, however, that I described the post as being "just about perfect." As good as it was, it could have been better. I think you stumbled when you described the church as being Christian. I don't think you really believe that, do you? We are talking about a Unitarian Universalist church here after all. No true Confederate Christian believes Unitarians are Christian. Hell, they're worse than the Catholics and Mormons combined.

You should have just called it a Southern Baptist church. Doing so would have made your Christian persecution argument much more compelling.

Below the fold, Dave Neiwert shares nice conservative talking points calling for violence against liberals. They own Jim Adkisson. A few choice selections:

Lee Rogers: "[T]he day will come when unpleasant things are going to happen to a bunch of stupid liberals and it's going to be very amusing to watch."

Rush Limbaugh: "I tell people don't kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus -- living fossils -- so we will never forget what these people stood for."

RedState contributor "Thomas Crown":I repeat: Should the entire American Left fall over dead tomorrow, I would rejoice, and order pizza to celebrate. They are not my countrymen; they are animals who happen to walk upright and make noises that approximate speech. They are below human. I look forward to seeing each and every one in Hell.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin:There were, and are, "two incompatible moral visions for this country. We had to settle it then. We're going to have to settle it now. I hope not with blood, not with guns, but we're going to have to settle it nonetheless. The good news is that I think our side is finally ready to settle it. Roll up its sleeves, take off its jacket, and get a little bloody. Spill a little blood. We'll settle it. And we'll win. And then there's no holding us back.

Ann Coulter:"We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed too."

Joe M. Richardson, letter to Editor and Publisher: I say start executing the leftists in our country, soon.

Rep. Peter King: And Joe Wilson has no right to complain. And I think people like Tim Russert and the others, who gave this guy such a free ride and all the media, they're the ones to be shot, not Karl Rove.

"Sock" Sokolowski, to Stephanie Miller: As with Cindy Sheehan the best thing that could happen to you would be seeing some WONDERFUL activist sticking an AK-47 up your Glory Holes and sending you into eternity... I would gather my 1st amendment rights permit me to HOPE (!) and PRAY (!) that someone decides you're better off as statistics. Honestly, should I hear of either you leaving this earth prematurely I would initiate a personal celebration that would make Animal House appear to be just another quiet Sunday in church.

Melanie Morgan: "We've got a bull's-eye painted on [Nancy Pelosi's] big, wide laughing eyes."

Kathleen Parker: Here's a note I got recently from a friend and former Delta Force member, who has been observing American politics from the trenches: "These bastards like Clark and Kerry and that incipient ass, Dean, and Gephardt and Kucinich and that absolute mental midget Sharpton, race baiter, should all be lined up and shot."

John Shelley: All verminous, hate-America, liberal-socialist-commie filth should be contained and selectively eliminated.

Paul Cameron: "Unless we get medically lucky, in three or four years, one of the options discussed will be the extermination of homosexuals."

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Transgender eyewitness at Knoxville church shooting on Mike Signorile Show today

Listen in to The Michelangelo Signorile Show today (Sirius XM Radio' s OutQ, Channel 109) at 4:30 ET to hear the story of Carla Lewis, a transgender congregant at the Knoxville Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church who was there when the gunfire rang out.

Carla, a regular church congregant and website manager for the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition joins us to share her eye-witness account of the tragic events as they unfolded, and her realization that this was an anti-liberal anti-gay attack, spurred on by conservative hate.

You can tune in via free 3-day pass.

Related:

* Unitarians speak out about the politics of the church shooting

* Shooting in Tennessee -- Knoxville church had just put up gay-affirming sign

* Freepers on TN church shooting - more guns needed in church