Jim D. Adkisson wanted to fight a gay-inclusive church’s “liberal movement” when he shot-up Sunday services this weekend, said police. Fifty-eight year old Adkisson allegedly killed two and injured seven at about 10:18 on yesterday morning and a letter found in his car later specified his murderous “reasoning:”
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.
[Adkisson] 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 four-page letter indicates that Adkisson. had been planning the attack for about a week.
Witnesses say Adkisson watched into the church’s sanctuary room, where about 200 people were gathered to watch the children’s movie Annie Jr, and began shooting into the adult-packed pews. Seven people remain critically injured, while brothers Jack and Joe Barnhart were killed at the scene.
Police found 76 shot gun shells inside the church. He used a guitar case to hide the weapon. He carried ammunition in a fanny pack. Chief Owens remarked, “”He certainly intended to take a lot of casualties.” Worshipers took down Adkisson as he reloaded.
How about we take this to the next level?
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alan brickman
hopefully the media won’t go suddenly quiet on this one…
ggreen
We have Rush Limbaugh, James Dobson and the Republican Party to thank for this.
GayBobVT
But did you see that Nike ad? THAT was disgusting!
whois
Is that Adkisson “Improbulus Maximus” the Knoxville blogger who rants about his guns, killing and liberals?
Alan down in Florida
I bet you no one tries to take Christianity to task for not stepping forward and denouncing this man and all other hateful Christians for behavior that is in clear contradiction to the religions’ so-called beliefs.
Charley
Tennesee, the Carolinas and Alabama are breeding states for homophobic violent “Jesus” people. Hundreds of signs along the highways, “Jesus shed blood for your sins” along with giant three story high crosses, peanuts and fireworks. Unitarian churches are at risk for violence, especially if their pastor is a woman, gay, or lesbian.
Bill Perdue
It’s only party the christians fault. IT’s mainly the Democrats. The increase of hate murders is escalating at a frightening pace because Obama and McCain won’t stop telling bigots that we’re second class citizens who don’t deserve the elementary right to be married.
And to be fair, it’s not just Obama and McCain. Some of the blame clearly lies with Congressional Democrats and Republicans who decided that our rights and lives were expendable. They gutted ENDA and tossed it and the hate crimes bill into the trash and refused to repeal DOMA and DADT.
The Democrats controlled Congress for the last two years so most of the blame is theirs. The Republicans were delighted to go along for the ride but they weren’t driving the bigot bus that ran over us.
The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes bill passed both Houses of Congress before Reid, Pelosi, Kennedy and Barney Frank tossed it into the trash. These murders belong to them.
McCain is a rancid right-winger with the Rev. Pat Robertson attached at the hip. Obama is Bill Clinton (DOMA, DADT, NAFTA) in drag with the Rev. Donnie McClurkin attached at the hip.
walt zipprian
Yeah, and since the Democrats have achieved a very slim majority, the republicans have broken every record for filibustering.
Don’t blame it on the dems.
Blame it on the haters.
MJB44
I am gay,Jewish and of European descent but, I am an American Citizen first and foremost. This is what happens when religious zealots try to impose their beliefs on others. They are violating the division between church and state.
I would not be surprised if this happens again and again. Especially regarding the ‘sanctuary movement’.
I have googled non-racist European(white)pride groups numerous times recently. Something I never thought I would do. It’s high-time we fight back.
CHURCHILL-Y
I’ve attended a many times Unitarian Universalist services and they have always been filled with love and laughter, when I heard the news of what had happened my heart sank. Why of all places did he chose that church? they say he “was motivated by frustration over being unable to obtain a job” the UU had no fault of that, hell they might have even helped him find a new job and gotten him any help he needed because that’s what they’re all about. This monster should get the maximum punishment afforded by the state as far as I’m concerned.
And the UU is very tied both historically and in beliefs and practices with UCC which is a Christian denomination and which along with the UU are the only religious organizations here in the US who treat its GLBT members as equals to all others unlike even the most liberal Episcopalians who refuse to marry us and tippy toe on our issues. So the commies amongst us please take that into account before you go your diatribe against Christians. I’m not a particular fan of organized religion in general but there at least two good ones that I know of and one has been subjected to a horrible nightmare in TN.
Bill Perdue
Walt, did you catch on to the fact that the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes bill had actually passed both houses of Congress before the Democrats off-handedly tossed in the dumpster because they didn’t want to be identified as pro-GLBT. (As if.)
How exactly does one filibuster a bill that’s already passed. Evidsently the Democrats are pandering to the haters. Or are some of them the haters? Like the majority who voted for DOMA and DADT and junked ENDA and the (like I said) already passed hate crimes bills.
walt zipprian
As I understood there were riders attached to the Matthew Shepard Hate crimes Bill that made it unpalatable to the dems.
I’m not saying there aren’t problems with the spinelessness many of the dems have shown on various bills importand to our cause. I’m just saying the dems really are not at fauld in this instance.
Progressives aren’t regularly and loudly dehumanizing us over the airwaves.
walt zipprian
And also, apparently, I can’t spell.
Mark VanGelder
Another expample of Bill Oreilly and Fox news responsible for stirring up hatred of Liberals. This man should have known that Liberals are not to blame for the crappy job environment and economic downturns of the past 7 years. He obviously listens to these right-wing neocons stirring up hate and trying to blame others for their ignorance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bill Perdue
That’s the first I’ve heard about riders. The hate crimes bill itself was a rider to one the Democrats bills to fund the Iraqi genocide. That’s just another example of their treachery – they were elected in 2006 on a pledge to end the war, which Obama plans on continuing for a year or two.
Filibusters and riders have nothing to do with it. The Democrats have spent decades making empty promises and people are fed up with it. That’s why they boycott elections and why Republicans, a decidedly minority party, wins them.
What is it about a prowar party that’s for NAFTA, opposes socialized medicine and who utterly trashed our agenda (DOMA, DADT, ENDA, hate crimes, same sex marriage, bribing cult leaders) that you like, Walt? Is it the utterly chickenshit and insulting minimum wage law they passed for $6.25 per hour instead of the$25.00 plus full union benefits that are needed?
Art
I wonder how Adkisson’s hatred and anger could build so much that he felt he had to kill. A neighbor said “He’s just a really, really nice guyâ€. Also “He never went anywhere. He never had anybody over.â€
Maybe he watched a lot of Fox news in his free time alone??? Fox’s Network propaganda making normal American’s intolerant and unbalanced. Just a thought!!!
Art
fri
right on, bill! its trendy to hate on the republicans but really the democrats have been just as complicit, if not as blatant about it.
Lala in PA.
I really hope this doesn’t spark a “liberal versus conservative” debate. This is simply the case of a mentally ill gentleman who could not or did not see his options clearly. A desperate man going to desperate and illogical lengths without thought of an outcome, and I’m sure my fellow UU’s would agree. Judgment and rhetoric is very unbecoming.
So let’s keep blame and political debate to a minimum and see it for what it is. A horrible, senseless tragedy perpetrated by a man who was not of right mind. This is not the fault of the democrats or the republicans, the liberals or the conservatives. I have no problem removing myself from whatever soapbox I choose to stand on in order to place my passion and heartfelt sympathy in the correct place, the parishioners and families of the victims.
UU in SO.IL.
Thank you LaLa in PA ! The best comment I’ve read today.
Trenton
Lala: I can agree with some of what you said, primarily that this doesn’t need to become a purely political debate. However, one can hardly manifest hearfelt sympathy online in any form besides trite obsequies. This is a discussion board, so it’s only natural that things come under discussion, and while it may be foolish to ‘blame and judge’ without a great deal more evidence than we have (or will ever have for that matter) I think that it is worthwhile for people here to consider the motivating forces behind this attack. No one will argue that this man is unstable, but there are plenty of otherwise benign unstable people. Why did he feel the need to lash outmurderously against “liberal” and “gay” targets who had nothing to do with his plight? It’s a question worth asking, even if we won’t arrive at a conclusive answer.
My condolences, all the same.
john
why do the people want to blame Christians for this? They are also the victims. Every statement about this guy from the people who actually know him said he HATED Christians. He expected to be killed. He was obviously an anti-Christian nut who just wanted to black the eye of Christianity on his way out. It doesn’t matter what he wrote, everyone who knew him said different. BTW, not all Christians hate Gays. That is another racist and biggoted stero type that serves no purpose
biron
Homosexual intercourse (i.e., rectal intercourse) is unnatural, not forwarding evolutionary processes and can only breed and parent children in artificial ways due to modern technology. To lump all people who are put off by the homosexual lifestyles as suffering from a phobia or hateful is simply wrong . . . a gross misnomer that will stoke the fire between both sides.
Trenton
You’re right, Biron. Some people who are put off by it are just ignorant. Thank you for being here to represent them.
MJ
It’s actually quite rare to capture a spree killer alive. They usually take themselves out, or are taken out by a SWAT team. There are only two others I can think of who are alive and in custody.
MJ
John : You’re right. We have Christian victims here. But some gays are so ferociously anti-Christian that they can’t admit that angle.
John
Oh jeez, I can’t believe a white Christian would EVER think this way!?
This is crazy and so unreal….
I’m at a lost-maybe he possibly, was part of the reverend wright movement?? That would make sense? No?
I’m sorry but it’s not AT ALL like a white old man from a conservative background to be prejudice-that belongs to the….well…blacks…
I categorically refuse to believe this but thank you Queerty for bringing it out.
MJ
I’m Christian-supportive, John, but, boy, are you a naive thing if you think some conservative Caucasian Christians aren’t capable of bad things too. They might not have the same continuously high crime rate as blacks, but…still, anybody is capable of good or bad.
John
MJ
I’m being incredibly sarcastic.
There are some Queerty commenter’s who are rather selective when it comes to history-then or now…
People are people, huh?
greybat
Unfortunately, religion is a completely neutral determinant of human nature. Men and women who have a natural predisposition to be kind-hearted, generous and compassionate will use their spiritual path to exercise those virtues.
People who are angry, envious and cruel will use theirs to give vent to their inherent dark natures.
Religions of sorts suffer in the media because it’s easier to sell advertising on shows that feature violent, shocking or controversial images (since it’s harder to show sexual ones these days).
Trenton
Greybat:
“Neutral determinant of human nature”…what a great bunch of nothing that is! Your suggestion that we are inherently virtuous or vicious and that our beliefs have no impact on our actions is utterly laughable—almost as laughable as the insinuation that religion’s image is somehow tarnished by a violence-obsessed media culture—but not nearly as laughable as the insinuation that this surfeit of shock is in lieu of salacious imagery, of which we suffer so shortage, I dare say.
Also: “Since” is not a proper word to describe causation. “As” or “because” would be correct. But hey, it’s still a living language, despite your best attempts to dismember it.
Phillip
I’ve been to many Unitarian Universalist churches in the last decade. I’ve never found them compelling enough to attend regularly but I bear them no animosity; live and let live. One thing I did notice in the few times I attended after 911 (and in reading their own pastors’ sermons posted on websites–you can do the research and find them), was a thread that “the United States by its policies brought the violence of 911 upon itself.”
I hope this church and all other Unitarian Universalist churches analyzing this horrible tragedy in the days and weeks ahead will use the same philosophical underpinnings on themselves to inquire why they would engender and bring into their own house such vicious hatred and violence. From the consistency of their own preaching for the last 7 years, clearly they have themselves to blame.
I would disagree. But then, I also disagreed with their misguided analysis when it was applied to 911.
crazylove
God, there are a lot of right wing nutcases who have found this site. Is there like a clearing house or think tank or activist volunteer group for this sort of thing? I always thought there are like these right wing orgs that monitor various sites and are ready to pounce the minute certain hot button topics come up. Sort of like how conservative sites will reflectively stitch gay to homosexual even when gay is just someone’s last name like marcia gay haydensen (spelling?) will become marcia homosexual haydensen. In a similar fashion, when crazy shit like this happens, they swarm any site in which such controversies come up.
Brian
Phillip,
If you really believe Unitarians believe Americans deserved 9/11, why do you keep attending their services? Funny, I’ve attended their services regularly in very liberal enclaves, and have never heard that. As you no doubt know, Unitarians are completely decentralized and each congregation/minister is self-governing, so there are probably some sermons floating around with some of that message, undoubtedly in the context of strong sympathy for all the victims of the tragedy, and of violence around the world.
Even if you take your assertion as valid, I have no idea what your argument is. Are you saying that because of their beliefs about 9/11, they deserve “vicious hatred and violence”? It’s not clear because you end the second paragraph saying clearly they have themselves to blame, then the next sentence says you would disagree, which seems to contradict everything else you’re saying. Lastly, if you believe the churchmembers deserved to die for some sermon you read on the internet, what do you propose for the followers of Pat Robertson, who clearly attributed 9/11 to feminists and gays?
KevinVT
“This is not the fault of the democrats or the republicans, the liberals or the conservatives.”
Huh? So that’s why he said he did it because he hates liberals and gays?
Brian
Brian, you need to improve your reading comprehension. My summary two-sentence paragraph made it clear that I did NOT (read that again: NOT) believe “this church was to blame.” So, no thanks to you for the silly attempt (and its subsequent failure) to rise to a discussion with non-sequiturs, ad hominem, and your laughable attempt to erect strawman arguments.
Because it’s not about me, Brian. Nor is it about Pat Robertson. (Where on earth did he come into the theme that I clearly stated?) Nor did I suggest that all Unitarian churches have preached what I heard and read.
I haven’t attended all Unitarian churches, everywhere, every Sunday, every month, of every year and, I suspect, neither have you. In fact, we both know you haven’t. We can also be quite sure that we haven’t attended the same ones. You attended ones that did not preach that message. The ones I attended did. What’s your vacuously aggressive point? That I didn’t? Grow up.
Charley
I attended the UU church in Hendersonville N.C. only 100 miles away from Knoxville T.N. where this crime happened. There have been threats on this church by the evangelical christians. It is not just one man with a mental problem. To say that is to put on blinders and excuse evangelicals and fundamental Christian relgious out to change and underhandly destroy all who don’t believe the way they do.
Charley
Oh. I forgot. Unitarian Universalists welcomed me as an atheist. They are free thinkers. It is not another Christian sect practicing witchcraft as do the Catholics, Baptists and Episcopalians.
Brian
Phillip, my reading is fine, it’s your writing that needs work. But you’re right, you aren’t the point, for me the Unitarian church is. It’s extremely progressive, pro-gay, and your post is simply not correct. You’re painting the church as rabidly anti-American, and all it is is pro-peace. I simply don’t believe that “in the few times (you) attended there was a thread that the US brought the violence of 911 on itself.” Once, maybe, or maybe you read it somewhere, whatever. But your claim that every time you attended this took place is simply not credible. The church as a whole would not be supportive of that anti-American point except possibly in the context of being against aggression everywhere, and certainly 9/11 has dropped off the list of possible sermon topics for some time now. And yes, you do have a bit of a disclaimer in the last paragraph of your first post, but the bulk of the message condemns the church and is permeated with the message that it got what it deserved.
crazylove
brian – phil is a right wing plant trying to sound plausible
scott
I try to keep an open mind but really, I think naive is a good word to describe those who think there isn’t some evangelistic religious fervor as a motivation for this tragedy. The dude hated liberals and gays. It’s not hard to read between the lines here.
I agree with Charley.