time to buy your MSUFA flak jacket

[Seany-D]

forward from a friend with the line "Looks like there are some real nutballs in Michigan". I don't think he was talking about you, Ian, for some reason. --SED


www.freep.com/news/cfp/3/vshoot28_20041028.htm

TAYLOR: Death is result of debate about God

October 28, 2004

BY JOEL THURTELL
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

A Taylor police dispatcher took the call at precisely 12:44 p.m. on Oct. 18.

A 49-year-old man said he'd just blasted a man with a revolver and a shotgun because the man said he didn't believe in God.

The dispatcher said the alleged shooter told him he'd just shot "the devil himself" and was still armed and standing over the body of the 62-year-old victim "in case he moved."

"I want to make sure he's gone," the alleged shooter told the dispatcher.

The dispatcher asked the suspect how many times he shot the victim.

"Hopefully enough," was the suspect's chilling reply, according to the dispatcher.

When police arrived in the 15600 block of McGuire, they could see the victim seated on a living room couch with major trauma to his head, officers said.

They said they were certain he was dead. He was.

Lying on a hallway floor was a black 12-gauge shotgun. Two spent shotgun shells lay on the floor nearby.

Later, police found a revolver with five spent cartridge casings.

On the way to the police station, the suspect told police "he did not want to deal with anyone that did not believe in God," according to the report.

The report also indicated that the suspect and the victim knew each other, although their relationship was unclear.

The suspect said he was an Eagle Scout, the report said.

The suspect said the victim had told him there was nothing he could say that would convince the 62-year-old to believe in God.

Following this discussion, the suspect said, he went into another room and removed his shirt. Then he shaved his face.

He tried once more to convince the victim to believe in God, but this time, he had the shotgun.

"How long would it take you to believe in God?" the suspect said he asked the victim.

"Not until I hear Gabriel blow his horn," the victim allegedly replied, while tipping his hat.

That's when the suspect shot him.

"I did it because he is evil; he was not a believer," the suspect told police.

The suspect said the victim "has been locked up most of his life."

Michigan Department of Corrections records indicate the victim was on probation for a drug conviction.

At the police station, the suspect commented that he believed there is a God.

Then, looking at the floor, he seemed to have second thoughts: "Maybe there's not," he said.

[the anti-myrmidon]

ummm...yikes?

Susan "not good" Wise

[Valvilis]

That's it, that's the last straw. CCWs for everyone (well, if you're an atheist, that is). Desert Eagle 50s all the way around. Let Sean take you out to the shooting range. We've apparently reached the final rung in the discrimination ladder.

Val "there's a lot of ways I may die, but being taken out by a Christian nut job just isn't one of them" Vilis

[Dafizman]

Thats it... where's my sword....

Dan "I knew this would come in handy" Olds

[ebonywnd]

Even though this article is fairly blatantly biased, there are certain facts that can't be changed. Our country has turned into a place where it is ok to kill someone because they don't believe in God. Now, of course he will still get punished, but the fact that he thought it was okay...he reached that point of arrogant religious assurance...it terrifies me. When will people learn that they can't force religion? Oh, that's right, never.

Dammit, the reason I rarely reply to shit is because I get so frustrated at people and I just start bitching instead of making good points.

-Laura "4-6 page essay due Wednesday? No prob." McIntosh

[Seany-D]

I think the issue here is that it has become tacitly approved in religious circles to paint atheists as evildoers and immoralists, and execute a plan of societal marginalization against them on grounds similar to that of a holy war. I find it interesting that Jews and Muslims [1] are not treated with the same bilious tone that atheists/agnostics are, yet the argument spent most often against those like us is that "we don't believe". I could care less what you believe, it's just when you try to tell me how I should live my life spiritually that we come to loggerheads; I should expect the same consideration from you as I give in return. But fear these days has turned the passionate into the belligerant. Sad, really. I've always had respect for the "loving" application of religion, but I'm hard-pressed to find it these days, at least when there's media to be wooed and tithing to be done.

[1] well, Muslims before 9/11 ... now they are often painted as extremists, even as a section of the Xtian religious right turns more extreme in their zealotry.

Sean "oy vey" Davis

[Aimepenser]

Perhaps it would be best for us to dismiss this person as obviously crazy, rather than to try to use him to draw conclusions about Christians in general. In any case, I plan to do so, since the full weight of my life experience disagrees with the conclusions that I would otherwise make about the theists in question.