Anti-gay organization leader: Shooting of liberal church proves no hate crimes protections needed

[meegbear]

Less than 24 hours after a man targeted a liberal, gay-inclusive church and killed two of its congregants, one "pro-family" figure said that the case will prove that hate crimes protections are not needed because the media will help prosecute it.

58-year-old Jim D. Adkisson of Powell, Tennessee, entered the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church on Sunday and fired shots from a sawed-off 12-gauge semiautomatic shotgun during a Monday children's performance of the musical "Annie," killing two and wounding seven. According to the Knoxville, Tennessee police chief Sterling Owen IV, a letter the out-of-work truck driver left in his car indicated frustration over a lack of employment opportunities, a reduction in his food stamp benefits and his "stated hatred of the liberal movement." Adkisson had 76 rounds with him and did not intend to leave the church alive.

"It proves our case" that hate crimes laws are not necessary, said Americans for Truth About Homosexuality president Peter LaBarbera. The media spotlight on Adkisson will "give more attention and better treatment to this case."

"The fact is, this case will get the attention it deserves," he continued, "and I believe this man could be given the death penalty, without any extra help from the Feds and any sort of hate crimes prosecution."

"Peter LaBarbera and his ilk are responsible for creating a climate where hate crimes can and do occur," Truth Wins Out founder and Executive Director Wayne Besen told PageOneQ. "LaBarbera is a despicable opportunist who barely waited for the police to lay down chalk and wrap tape around the crime scene before pushing his opposition to hate crimes legislation."

According to Knoxville Police Department Investigator Steve Still, who wrote the warrant to search Adkisson's home, Adkisson carried out his attack on the church "because of its liberal teachings and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country." Democrats, he said, had "tied his country's hands in the war on terror and they had ruined every institution in America with the aid of major media outlets."

Since he couldn't get to the "leaders of the liberal movement," Adkisson would target those that voted them in office instead, Still wrote.

Books seized from Adkisson's home include Bill O'Reilly's The O'Reilly Factor, Michael Savage's Liberalism is a Mental Disorder and Sean Hannity's Let Freedom Ring.

The Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations holds seven principles. They are, as displayed on the UUA website:

• The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
  
  
• Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
  
  
• Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
  
  
• A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
  
  
• The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
  
  
• The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
  
  
• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
  

"We uphold the free search for truth," the Church quotes Rev. Marta Flanagan. "We will not be bound by a statement of belief. We do not ask anyone to subscribe to a creed. We say ours is a non-creedal religion. Ours is a free faith."

Adkisson is being held on $1 million bail.

http://pageoneq.com/news/2008/church072908.html

[groovedaddy]

1. I guess when you have deep commitment to hatred

you don't want to see the law becoming involved.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

2. doesnt it just prove that right wingers are violent and unstable?

[sui generis]

3. good. I think we should target babtists

and fling poopy diapers at them. Terrorism AND hate crime.

Fortunately, I know it is possible to hate a group of people without having to do something about it.

That's the difference I guess - if we despise somebody or some group for the principles they have or the choices they make in their own lives, we don't run around saying they shouldn't exist or have fewer rights than us.

But when you flip it around, they do everything in their power to be in our business and our lives. They TAKE ACTION. If we TOOK ACTION they would damn well be screaming for hate crime protections and shocked and horrified when we told them they didn't need any because the sun came up in the east.

Whatta buncha boneheads.

[Karl_Bonner_1982]

4. http://americansfortruth.com/issues/freedom-under-fire Funny Picture!!!

The same site that said this crap about hate crimes and such.

The paradox of tolerance is that too much tolerance of the intolerant and it will give the intolerant license to destroy the tolerant society.

[dsc]

5. actually murder isn't the best example of the need for these laws

These laws are more needed in the case of lesser crimes. That doesn't mean I don't want to see a hate crime prosecution but this really isn't the case that most demonstrates a need.

[Zuiderelle]

6. I suppose the media coverage of presidential campaigns is proof that we don't need a president.

He makes no sense.