Reborn, from hate to faith - Former Aryan Brotherhood leader transformed by belief

[Ghost in the Machine]

Reborn, from hate to faith - Former Aryan Brotherhood leader transformed by belief
Knoxville News Sentinel | 1/22/6 | ROBERT WILSON

MARYVILLE - At 6-feet-9 and 350 pounds, Jim Tull would be hard to miss, even if he weren't tattooed all over with fearsome symbols and messages of - to put it mildly - ethnic intolerance.

To say that he dominates a room profoundly understates the situation.

But a conversation with him reveals an apparent seam of gentleness that is sharply at odds with his outward persona.

Tull talks about God and about the cable-channel storyline that has brought him from what he says was a life of hate and crime to a total submission to the will of the Lord.

His former world was one populated by some pretty unpleasant people, he says, people who would willingly - eagerly - violate all of the Ten Commandments; people Tull says he has to watch out for every day because, "I know too much."

Jim Tull's former life was that of president of the East Coast chapter of the Aryan Brotherhood, a "secret society" that espouses hatred of minorities and holds seditious beliefs about who should be running the country and, for that matter, who should be living in it.

Tattooed on Tull's skin, from the top of his shaved head down, are colorful words and images that validate his claim to 17 years in what he calls "The Brotherhood."

His story is one of a man who has seen both extremes of humanitarianism's spectrum. His words indicate who he is. His skin indicates who he was, and if his saga is not true, he has undergone a lot of pain to create a myth.

Tull readily acknowledges his past as both a member and leader of The Brotherhood and an association with a motorcycle gang known for its cruelty and criminal activity. He declines to name the biker group out of concern for his personal homeland security.

But his focus nowadays, he says, is not on his former life or even his present one, but on the one that he believes comes after that - an eternal one. (more)
http://www.congressunderfire.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=109&topic_id=31&mesg_id=31&page=

[Toots]

1. Faith can be twisted to represent nothing but hate so don't see a big change here..

:shrug:Maybe he is a Pat Robertson follower now...

[Ghost in the Machine]

4. Ummm... no, he's not a Robertson follower...

He's an evangelical pastor with his own ministry now and does missionary work in Africa.

The only hate I see seems to be coming from you and it's directed towards people of faith... hell, i'm an atheist myself, and usually laugh at believers, but hey, whatever works for someone that changes their life for the better is ok with me, I reckon... whatever stops the hate...

BTW.... I know the guy personally, so I can vouch for him from what I've seen and heard with my own eyes and ears....

[Fierce]

2. What crap journalism!

One source with one outside voice providing a stock quote at the very end, no outside confirmation of anything, no context, and no feeling that he's totally changed his mind about racism.

[ChickMagic]

3. So true

From what I understand, the Aryan Brotherhood goes by "The Brand",
not "The Brotherhood". I'm not saying he's not part of it, but I
have doubts that he was a higher up.