Church Shooting
in Knoxville
07/28/08
My friend, Marilyn, emailed me today
and told me about the church shooting in Knoxville, TN. That's only an
hour-and-a-half drive from me. I used to live in Knoxville years ago, as
did all of my family members at one time or another. My sister, Angie,
still owns property there but has decided to be a free spirit so she no
longer resides there.
As you can guess, the church shooting hits really close to
home, especially since it's the Universalist Unitarian Church. I haven't
been to a UU Church yet, but I am actually a certified UU minister. Years
ago, you could just go to their website and fill out a form and they would
give you a certificate that said you were a UU minister. It was simple and easy,
so I did it. I've never used it for anything and I don't consider myself a
minister really. It was just a silly thing I did so I could say I was a
certified minister.
But wow, this conservative fanatic, Jim Adkisson, went to the TN Valley
Universalist Unitarian church and opened fire with a shotgun. Two of
the shooting victims died. He hated liberals, he said. He basically tried to kill
people who are just like me and you, people who aren't conservative Christians. It's
hard to believe that a man can be so callous and violent that he would
kill people he doesn't even know. And he did this right in the middle of a children's play.
They were doing "Annie", one of my favorite movies of all time. See, in
the UU church, you can actually do GOOD plays. You don't have to do cheezy
Bible plays all the time.
|
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) —
Knoxville's police chief says the man accused of
a shooting that killed two people at a Tennessee
church targeted the congregation because of its
liberal social stance.
Chief Sterling Owen IV said Monday that police
found a letter in Jim D. Adkisson's car. Owen
said Adkisson was apparently frustrated over
being out of work and had a "stated hatred of the
liberal movement."
Adkisson is charged with first-degree murder.
Police say a gunman entered the Tennessee Valley
Unitarian Universalist Church during a children's
performance Sunday. No children were hurt.
The church is known for advocating women's and
gay rights and founding an American Civil
Liberties Union chapter. |
Not only was Adkisson from Knoxville, but he was actually from
Powell, the same town that I lived in. My sister and her husband lived
there too and his computer business is still there. That is truly
disturbing.
I'm not that surprised that this
happened. Conservative Christians are obviously going to start feeling
more desperate and fearful as they see their formerly strong societal
influence slipping away, especially here in the
South.
 I was in North Carolina, not far from here, a couple of weeks ago,
and I saw two teenage girls walking around in a very small town holding
hands in a gay way.
I thought it was sweet. I love gay people and I'm very
accepting of them, in more ways than just theoretically, lol. Lesbians are
definitely cool by me. Most of society has now begun to accept gay people
too, it seems. But there are still those few scared, backward religious
fanatics who think it's their duty to go around enforcing the Ten
Commandments (not that being gay is against the Commandments, but the
Bible does condemn homosexuality.)
Ignorance is a sad and frightening thing. The more
that conservatives see
their way of life slipping away, the more they will try to fight to keep
it. But those are just the last, gasping breaths of a dying faith. The New
Age is here to stay and those that don't hop on board will end up losing
out as result. The compassionate, joyful, accepting people of the world have already
decided that they want to change the world in positive ways. Conservatives may have their
wars and their guns to fight with, but we are much more powerful than them
because we are using the power of thought and the power of love to get
what we want. I see it working all the time. All we have to do is continue
to be positive and only put our energy towards what we WANT to see, not
what we do NOT want to see.
You should have seen the storm that blew through Tennessee
tonight. I drove to Knoxville to go to the candlelight ceremony for the
people who died. I got there right as it ended, so that was a flop. But
right as I got to Knoxville, which incidentally was the same time that the
service started, it started POURING rain. It was really quite bad and I
was nervous about driving in it. After fighting the rain and walking
several blocks to get to the church, I finally got there just as the
service was letting out.
It's hard to imagine getting shot down in a church. Or
being at a church when something like that happens. (Don't try to imagine
it because that would be using your mind power to visualize and create a
possible future for yourself. Never visualize anything that you don't
want to actually happen. Visualizing is like casting a spell.)
I looked up the murderer's address on
Google Maps. He lived within a couple of miles of where my sister and I
both lived. It's sickening really that such a lunatic could live so
close.
|
AP - KNOXVILLE, Tenn.: A slain
Tennessee church member was remembered as a hero
for shielding others from a gunman who opened
fire during a children's performance Sunday.
Witnesses said Greg McKendry, 60, blocked others
behind him at Tennessee Valley Unitarian
Universalist Church from being hit by a shotgun
blast.
McKendry "took the blast to protect the rest of
us," church member Barbara Kemper told The
Associated Press.
A second church member, Linda Kraeger, 61, died
several hours later in a hospital. Seven more
people were injured, and five were still
hospitalized Sunday night in serious or critical
condition.
Victims and police were trying to find out why
the gunman attacked the church known for its work
promoting social issues like desegregation,
women's and gay rights and civil liberties.
Jim D. Adkisson, 58, was charged with
first-degree murder and held on $1 million bail.
Kemper said the gunman shouted before he opened
fire.
"It was hateful words. He was saying hateful
things," she said, but refused to elaborate.
Police said the FBI was assisting in case the
shooting turned out be a hate crime, but no
motive was known. Police were taking statements
from witnesses and collecting video cameras from
church members who taped the performance.
Authorities searched Adkisson's duplex in the
Knoxville suburb of Powell on Sunday night. A
bomb squad was called in as a precaution.
"In a situation like this we're not taking any
chances," police Lt. Doug Stiles said. Police
refused to provide any details about what they
found.
Neighbors described Adkisson as a friendly man
who would often work on his motorcycle outside
and go on long rides on the weekends.
Melissa Coker, 44, said Adkisson had lived next
door since she moved in four or five years ago.
She said he had been a truck driver, but she
didn't believe he had steady work in the last six
months or so.
"He's just a really, really nice guy," Coker
said.
Glenda Blair, 54, who also lives next door, said
Adkisson did not seem like a threat.
Witnesses described a harrowing scene at the
church where about 200 people were watching 25
children perform a show based on the musical
"Annie." When the shots were fired, some dove for
cover under pews and others scrambled out the
door.
Church member Mark Harmon said he was in the
first row. "It had barely begun when there was an
incredibly loud bang," he said.
Harmon said he thought the noise was part of the
play, then he heard a second loud bang. As he
dove for cover, he realized a woman behind him
was bleeding. She looked like she was in shock,
touching her wound, he said. "It seems so
unreal."
Harmon said church members just behind him in the
second and third rows were shot. His wife told
him that she saw the gunman pull the shotgun out
of a guitar case.
Witnesses reported hearing about three blasts
from the .12-gauge shotgun, which spreads pellets
when the shot leaves the barrel. Witnesses said
they did not recognize the gunman.
The church's minister was on vacation in western
North Carolina at the time of the shooting but
returned Sunday afternoon.
"We've been touched by a horrible act of
violence. We are in a process of healing and we
ask everyone for your prayers," the Rev. Chris
Buice said in a statement.
McKendry and his wife had recently taken in a
foster child.
"I will tell you we love Greg McKendry," Buice
said before the second victim died. "We are
grieving the loss of a wonderful man." Associated Press writers Beth Rucker
in Knoxville and Cara Rubinsky and Anna Varela in
Atlanta contributed to this report.
|
I am sending my positive thoughts
and energy to the church and the people who died for our cause. This
incident just proves that what we are doing is really working. The
religious right are so afraid that their world is changing that
they are lashing out in a futile attempt to prevent these inevitable changes
from occurring. This is just a dying
energy in our world and we will surely see more incidents where they
express their anger due to the fear they have that their way of life is
about to be obsolete. May there be peace on Earth very soon. I trust that
we are moving in a positive direction. We have to be if we are going to
save our planet. Let's all pull together now and do as much as we can to
help the Earth and each other. Show love instead of hate. Show tolerance
instead of bigotry. If you have been abused or felt isolated because of
your sexual preferences, your religious beliefs (or lack thereof), color,
political views, or any other reasons, please know that there is a huge
community of people who will accept you for who you are. When you learn
to love and accept yourself and to accept others, you will find that
others are more accepting of you. So please don't continue the cycle of
abuse. It stopped with me. It will stop with you if you desire it. Love every
living creature, including the Earth, and most especially love yourself,
as that is the only way that you will get others to love you fully.
Next Rambling - Advice From a Murderer
Spells |
