Unitarian Church shooting suspect 'hated gays, liberals'

[A stor]

Welcome, camiloj! It's good to have you here.

 

[INDY500]

Godless: The Church of Liberalism
Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right
The Enemy Within: Saving America from the Liberal Assault on Our Schools, Faith, and Military
Liberalism is a Mental Disorder
Treason
Culture Warrior
Let Freedom Ring: Winning the War of Liberty Over Liberalism
Deliver us from Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism

What happens when someone goes on a shooting rampage in, or torches a, church and we later find his den full of books like;

1) The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

2) God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens

3) The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris

4) Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel C. Dennett

Would that qualify as a hate crime?

 

[Irvine511]

What happens when someone goes on a shooting rampage in, or torches a, church and we later find his den full of books like;

1) The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

2) God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens

3) The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris

4) Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel C. Dennett

Would that qualify as a hate crime?

first, i want to echo what i thought i had made clear -- i don't think that any kind of writing (or music, or movies) "causes" violence. i think people prone to violence are more apt to consume certain kinds of media and be unduly and unhealthily influenced by such things. thus, if the scenario you described above were to come to pass, no of course it would not surprise me -- though i hardly think you can compare the intelligence of Hitchens or Dawkins (whether you agree or not) to Sean Hannity, Ann Couler, or Michael Savage -- if someone had these books and, yes, i do think there is such a thing as a hate crime against a "believer" (for lack of a better word ... and, out of curiosity, how many atheists commit hate crimes against "believers"? do we know?)

but, again, step back: do the above titles even compare in their incendiariness to the titles i picked out by Hannity, Coulter, et al? i think you've made an equivocation between the two -- atheist intellectuals vs. conservative popular entertainers -- that really doesn't exist.

 

[deep]

What happens when someone goes on a shooting rampage in, or torches a, church and we later find his den full of books like;

1) The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

2) God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens

3) The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris

4) Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel C. Dennett

Would that qualify as a hate crime?

-


This strains credulity

as an agnostic, I could care less, what "belief system" people do within their own communities


the believer acts, because he believes he has a higher power on his side and the "others" are evil

and after his action, there is a better place waiting for him.


there are some odd exceptions, the uni-bomber, was legally insane, I am not sure if he was a "believer" or "non-believer"

and if any of these enviro 'Earth First' fanatics are non-believers their crimes are more against property, burning developments and hummers, not shooting people.

 

[dazzledbylight]

I'm not Irvine and frankly racism and anti-homosexual bigotry are one and the same in my book.

I'm not Irvine either, and I also feel this way.

Unfortunately there is a large group of African-Americans & Afro-Carribeans who mostly because of some of the more conservatve churches have alot of homophobic beleifs.

I can even site myself as a white person who b/c of the religion I grew up in did take in, and formarly had those views to an extent, plus in the late 50's early 60's [pre-Stonewall] those views were quite more openly prevalent, and thus more easily "absorbed"-
though nowehre near wanting death/imprisonment or governmental second-class citizenship as I understood back it then (marriage was not an isssue back then) for gays & lesbians.

I chalk up not having really virulent anti-gay views to my parents who didn't go on & on & on about it, and thus amplify the effects of what I'd already taken in.

They were usually too busy (besides trying to care of my very asthmatic mom from when I was 5 yrs on) to teaching me about Art/ Music/ Nature/Sports & the Liberal POV.

They allowed me to have friends of all religious, ethic & racial backgrounds from a young age....and as I met these various people over time at school, summer play-programs, or in the neighborhood, and those who clicked personality & interests-wise with me became my friends.

From these above 2 paragraphs I'll now contrast....how my homophobic beleifs were mostly ( not completely, but I'm working on it when the little that is left shows up).

It's actually somewhat like how some people broguth up to be rascists eventually lose that form of "sickness".

There were very few people in my earlier schooling who were so "flaming" that it was rather obvious that they could be gay, or bi-sexual. I made fun of them in my mind, or when some straight guys were making fun in a gerneral way of gay men- not at some one in particular I'd laughed right along.

Then I got to College. I met all kinds of cool people there, too. Including one particular smart, kind creative guy who I'd hang out with him & his friends. I fell in love with him, eventually.

He did not recipretcate. Two years in there was the first Gay Dance in our college ( a few years after Stonewall)- a serious coming-out event. And there he was dancing with other guys.
Oh, the big ole tear-drops that I wept over weeks!

But once I got over that I realized I never wanted any harm to come to him because he was gay (or for any other reason, of course). Two more of his friends - one came out, one never really came out. But there were all people I liked.

SO from that point i had to confront my old POV and start to change it. And some it more naturally faded away without much internal "confrontation".

When you start to see "The Other" as yourself real biogtry can be extinguished, or at the very least very, very diminished & easier to note, and continue to be worked on.

 

[dazzledbylight]

"....... though i hardly think you can compare the intelligence of Hitchens or Dawkins (whether you agree or not) to Sean Hannity, Ann Couler, or Michael Savage........"

sorry Mods........

I couldn't resist!


(and I am a Spiritual person, butnot in any organized religion)

 

[camiloj]

Welcome, camiloj! It's good to have you here.

Thanks!

 

[INDY500]

i hardly think you can compare the intelligence of Hitchens or Dawkins (whether you agree or not) to Sean Hannity, Ann Couler, or Michael Savage --

So only Bubba hate is dangerous, intellectual hate is ok?

The answer is of coarse to concentrate on the crime(s), with motivation only a mitigating factor in a small minority of cases.

 

[dazzledbylight]

So only Bubba hate is dangerous, intellectual hate is ok?

I do find Dawkins very snide about people who have spiritual /or religious beliefs, and I do not like that AT all.

 

[A stor]

Any kind of hate is wrong......even if someone is "uncomfortable" with homosexuality. It doesn't ever justify any acts of violence. Thankfully, I have lived long enough to see that most people are decent and hardworking. As we age, we all have the same needs and problems. Paying rent or mortgage, and hopefully having enough cash left over, for the food store.

 

[Irvine511]

So only Bubba hate is dangerous, intellectual hate is ok?

The answer is of coarse to concentrate on the crime(s), with motivation only a mitigating factor in a small minority of cases.

yes, of course i agree that a Sean Hannity book isn't going to cause a shoot up of a church. we agree on this.

i stand by the point: comparing Dawkins to Coulter is absurd.

i also have a tough time characterizing Dawkins as hate -- unless you think everyone who doesn't hold your religious views, by default, hates you.

Hitchens, however, can be a bit nasty.

but the difference between what you might want to call "intellectual hate" vs. "Bubba hate" is that intellectual "hate" focuses on a wide variety of factors and presents a complex series of arguments. Michael Savage, on the other hand, thinks autistic kids need to shut up and stop acting like girls.

big difference, imho.

 

[A stor]

Some autistic children are girls. It is a brain disease. What is with Mike Savage?