Overheard: "If you throw chum in the water, expect the Sharks to attack" re:Tennessee Shooting

[TornadoTN]

This was overheard today while I was having lunch at a local cafe to somehow justify the killings just down the road here in Eastern Tennessee over the weekend. I was shocked and really wanted to find out more, so I turned around and saw a group of two seniors and a two middle-aged men. I listened a bit more and identified who had said it and politely asked him if he was talking about the shootings at the UU church. He responded that yes he was and quickly gave me a recap saying that any "church" (he put his fingers up to make a point that the UU church was somehow not a church) that preaches acceptance to gays and liberal policies should expect this type of reaction because its wrong.

I asked for clarification, saying "Are you saying that preaching tolerance and acceptance is against the teaching of Jesus and should be braced for violent backlash against it?".

He replied, "well, what I'm saying is that God doesn't approve of it. I'm not saying that it's a good thing what this guy did but he didnt do anything that God wouldn't have done in the old times".

Shaking my head in disbelief, I regained my composure and told him, "You obviously stopped reading your bible past Leviticus or take a very selective interpretation of it. Now, as a liberal myself, should I be worried about you and your friends gunning me down because my ideology is different than yours?"

He looked rather red-faced and ended the conversation.

[Crazy Dave]

1. Probably never even read the bible

People like that only believe and say what they're told to believe and say.

[mamameow]

100. hatred

isn't this what the talking freaks at faux news preach in a very subtle way, sometimes very open with hatred? this guy should have asked if these people watch fox. i bet they do. every time i run into this kind of conversation, i always ask first "do you watch fox news?" always it is 100% yes. we have to find ways to stop or counter the hate that is sponsored by msm, which influences these brainless people.

[SCantiGOP]

113. great bumper sticker

I saw it on a pickup truck yesterday:
When God said to love your enemies, I'm pretty sure he meant not to kill them.

[Brigid]

115. Another one:

That "Love Your Neighbor" thing -- I meant that. ---God.

[jwirr]

118. This one goes right over their heads. They just start arguing about

who their neighbor is. It is very sad that they do not understand that they are destroying the very church they claim to care about.

[JerseygirlCT]

120. Yup. All he needs to know:

Hate gays, blacks and those uppity women who won't stay in their place. Oh and all those liberals who love those people and think they ought to be treated like people.

Amen.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Slowly but surely...

The trailer trash looks for a justification for this. So typical they would hide behind the scrawlings of desert tribemen. I look upon this sort of thing as a new form of blood libel.

[hootinholler]

105. Hey Scheiskopf!

What do you mean trailer trash?

With that attitude, your last name is correct.

-Hoot

[Catherine Vincent]

3. You did good approaching that guy.

I think you made him realize what an idiot he is. :)

[Zookeeper]

51. Yeah, he did a great job...

There's no chance in hell that I would have been able to remain that composed in the face of such an attempt to rationalize and excuse a hate-motivated murderer!

TornadoTN: I'll think of you the next time my patience with Fundies is tested.
:thumbsup:

[fl410]

4. Was it one of the old pharts?

(I use that term because I myself am a certified old phart) :D

[LSparkle]

5. Good for you for speaking up ...

These people need to be confronted and shown just how foolish and
reactionary their "logic" (fingers up) is.

[trof]

6. Maybe we should all wear bullseye T shirts.

Big red and white bullseye with 'LIBERAL' stenciled across it.

[Fuzz]

30. Nice.

[Fumesucker]

48. Here you go..

[bdamomma]

84. I hate to compare but

how about when the Jews in Germany had to wear the star of David on their clothes to show who they were.

[sinkingfeeling]

7. You should have asked if he thought of himself as a Christain. And if he said, of course, you could

haved asked where in the Bible Jesus said to kill your 'enemies'.

[libnnc]

8. These people do not believe in the New Testament at all

(except the insane rantings of the Book of Revelations)

These are Old Testament cultists. Not Christians.

[LynneSin]

16. You gotta narrow that down - they believe in Paul's New Testament

Paul was the first Christian Fundamentalists who believed the only important thing was to convert people and was willing to go to extreme measures to make that happen.

As I posted below the most important books of the bible are the Gospels - those are the lessons that Jesus taught and the stories of what he did when he was here on earth. And to be honest, it doesn't even matter what your religious affliation is OR even if you believe in God - the Gospels show the story of a man who sacrified everything in order to reach out to help those who were in need. Even Ghandi was a follower of Jesus Christ's.

Everything else in the bible is history. The Old Testament shows us how we got to Jesus and everything after John in the New Testament talks about how Christianity was started (Jesus was not a Christian, he was a Jew) and was spread throughout the world.

If we really want to do "What Would Jesus Do" we'd read those Gospels and take everything else as history.

BTW that Leviticus verse about 'man laying down next to man' was NOT about homosexuality. It was about pagan rituals.

[libnnc]

19. yup.

Batshit crazy, violent Paulists.

[fl410]

29. Paul (Saul, the Terrorist of Tarsus) never met JC - he didn't even live at the same time

and wrote "letters" after eating bad mushrooms and falling off a mule on the way to Damascus. He did a hell of a lot of finger-wagging.

[alphafemale]

72. Paul was a hateful, vindictive man before theThe Incident on Damacus Road.

And he was a hateful,vindictive man afterward.

The only difference is that he switched teams.

[LynneSin]

86. and a letter of the Alphabet too

It disgusts me these followers of Paul who call themselves Christians. They really should be relabelled as Paulists

[Occulus]

21. NO. No 10,000 times.

These people ARE christians. They believe in jesus as their lord and savior. They are christians, period.

Whether you like it or not, christianity owns these people. They are nobody else's, they believe, and they are deeply dangerous. By definition, they are as christian as anyone else on this board.

[libnnc]

28. I gew up in the Methodist Church. We were never taught to kill people we don't agree with.

There are people who follow the teachings of Jesus and there are posers who brag about being "saved".

I'm as apathetic as it gets regarding religion but even I know that these assholes are not real followers of Christ.

[Zhade]

41. They. Are. Christians.

NT!

[libnnc]

43. They. Are. Terrorists.

Who call themselves Christians.

[checks-n-balances]

54. I think the best definition of a Christian is being a Follower of Jesus Christ

That means learning about and doing what Jesus taught and living like you believe it - found in the 4 gospels. Many people have been taught that to be a Christian is to give equal weight to all the words in the Bible, but there's so much there and some of the messages are in conflict. They've been taught to read the Bible literally and to take as final word those old passages that depict a warlike god just as much as they would take the portrait of God as found through Jesus. People like that almost always choose to follow & believe in a warlike and authoritarian god, because it reinforces their prejudices. They also give equal weight to the writings of Paul, some of which are beautiful and deep but some of which include "laws" that are in conflict with what Jesus taught. Much easier than following Jesus who asks people to change their selfish ways and love their enemies.

Paul didn't even have access to some of the teachings of Jesus because they hadn't been recorded yet, so that's why they were in conflict.

These men have been taught, or simply choose on their own, to ignore the teachings of Jesus in favor of warlike god passages and/or the writings of Paul. Both types of writing have been widely misinterpreted and should always be studied alongside, and compared with, the gospel stories of Jesus.

Anyway, thanks to the OP for engaging those men in a dialogue that - who knows - may have caused them to think. At the very least they must have been shocked that a "liberal Christian" could look and talk just like a normal human being and not a satanic monster!

[sentelle]

68. they are as Christian

As the Taliban is Muslim. So call them what they are "American Taliban". It fits them, and also pisses them off too.

[yardwork]

75. Posers.

Libinnc is right.

[mcg]

98. Your statement sounds like equivocation,

the word "Christian" has multiple meanings. So what. The philosophies represented by the multiple meanings are not at all equal. Silly semantic arguments are tiresome.

[Dogtown]

92. lbnnc they'd make the same exclusionary

statement about you and the church you were raised in.


They profess to be Christian and therefore are. Whatever it means to be a *true* Christian is open to anyone's individual interpretation.

I'm *not* equating their specific beliefs with yours; I'm merely making the point that they act in the belief that JC approves of their particular brand of Christianity, just as any other practicing Christian does.

They're Christians, and other Christians need to do some housecleaning and/or "damage control" if they don't want to be seen as traveling under the same umbrella.



Good luck with that, BTW.

[Critters2]

116. Weren't you? The UMCs around here wrap themselves in the flag

and show up at any event where the military is honored. They LOVE the military.

Maybe you didn't realize it, but the purpose of the military is to kill people we don't agree with.

[mnhtnbb]

69. Wrong. They call themselves Christians. Calling yourself a Christian

while behaving in a way that flies in the face of the teachings of Jesus makes you a hypocrite.
That's what they are. Hypocrites. Let's call them what they are.

[glitch]

97. Hypochristians

Possibly a new word just made up by ME. Unless you've heard it before.

[mnhtnbb]

106. I love it! Hypochristians it is from now on!

:applause: :applause: :applause:

[glitch]

108. I am very pleased :) nt

[nachoproblem]

114. In that case they are bad Christians.

It is possible to be a bad Christian, just like it's possible to be a bad doctor or a bad tennis player. It simply means you fail at the thing you profess to practice. It may be a semantic distinction but it probably works for any Muslim who doesn't think that Bin Laden observes the teachings of Muhammad very well. And you know, I'm entirely willing to believe that such people are right. Christianity has a much more specific definition than merely declaring Christ to be "lord and savior." In fact, the definition is so specific there's a whole book to contain it. In the old days, people were allowed to cite scripture and compare their arguments based on it to establish who was "right" regarding matters of what Christian theology is; nowadays, the concepts of "right" or "wrong" are considered off limits. Luckily, being old fashioned, I don't have to care.

People who believe that it is in their hands to smite others for their non-Christian ways are professing to practice Christianity -- and failing. Period.

(Edit: Incidentally I am also a bad Christian. I profess to be a Christian from time to time even though I do not actually believe in God. This unquestionably makes me a bad Christian, just as surely as it does a shotgun-slinging Freeptard. However, I know this to be true because I can contrast both myself and the Jeezo-fascists thugs with good Christians. They exist and I have seen them. :tinfoilhat: )

[Marr]

55. Oh no- that's not true at all.

You see, certain parts of the Old Testament are rendered null and void by the New Testament. Basically, all the things that make life convenient for them. Wearing different types of cloth, working on the sabbath... lots of stuff.

We're just very unlucky, you and I, because we were born without the gene that allows people to discern which parts of the Bible are the actual word of god, and which parts are just sort of the casual suggestions of god.

They most certainly are Christians. You can't just shake them off. They are as much Christians as Osama bin Laden is Muslim.

[rockymountaindem]

61. This line of reasoning always puts me off

If one were to accept the belief that believing only in the Old Testament is the sole basis for this kind of violence, then it would stand to reason that the most virulent haters would be Jews, who, on the contrary, are some of the most liberal people in our society (by and large, of course). To me, the kind of reasoning espoused by those seeking to blame every bad act done by a Christian in the name of intolerance on the Old Testament is simplistic and not fair to all of those who draw their religious/spiritual inspiration from that text and yet act benevolently towards others.

[redqueen]

9. Thank you for politely interacting with them.

Maybe this guy or someone else standing around might start THINKING about the bullshit they're buying into.

[flvegan]

10. "I'm not saying that it's a good thing what this guy did"

No, wait, that's exactly what I'm saying. Silly me.

[DefenseLawyer]

17. See, the guy was just doing God's work.

You know, like Hitler.

[flvegan]

31. And Paul Hill and Michael Griffin

[redqueen]

11. I wonder if he'd blame women for being raped...

same kind of reasoning, isn't it?

[texastoast]

53. Oh, yes,

it's all the women's fault for having legs.

[HelenWheels]

12. You did good

Good for you for confronting them and not letting such horrible comments to go uncontested. It is time liberals (who by their nature do not like confrontation)speak up.

[raccoon]

71. I think the only people who DO like confrontation are people who enjoy fighting.

And I agree, it's time we speak up and call people on this kind of horrible BS.

[LynneSin]

13. To me the 4 most important books in the bible are the Gospels

Whether you believe in God or not; whether you think Jesus was the SOn of God or just another human like you or I - the Gospels really do have the keys to living a good life that remembers that we need to reach out to help others who need help and treat everyone as equals.

The rest of the bible is simply history. When the apostles asked what laws were the most important Jesus didn't go thru Leviticus and spout the rules about Gays or Shrimp or Stoning, he said to "Love one another".

[SharonAnn]

20. Guess you're like me. I'm a "Red Letter" Christian. The stuff that Jesus said.

Or, I'm a New Testament Christian, - you know, the Jesus stuff.

[texastoast]

34. They are

but they don't tell all of the story. The church picked them just for their political punch and left out the "heresies" of the other disciples and other gospelists. Who knew that Jesus laughed much? You don't hear about it (and other very cool Jesusian things) unless you read the excluded stories.

[LynneSin]

44. That's true - the Gnostics are always great reading

and sometimes extremely scary as to what Jesus really wanted, which would truly piss off the Fundamentalists (aka Paulists)

[BreweryYardRat]

47. I'd debate the "history" claim.

Some of it is valid historical/anthropological data, but most of it's more like one of Homer's epics. Just not as good.

[texastoast]

52. I'll debate "some" and "most"

I declare that they could switch places in your post and only then be somewhat, mostly valid.

[BreweryYardRat]

62. Oops. Forgot to include something.

I do agree with the Gospels being the only really valid books in terms of religious/social teachings.

[LynneSin]

87. The 'history' section is, you're right, lore that has been passed thru generations

I'm sure some variation of it existed but has probably been widely modified over the years - but for the most part it is a historial reading of what lead us to Christianity (Old Testament) and how Christianity was distorted after Christ's death (New Testament after Christ died and Paul took over).

[sinkingfeeling]

104. I'm all for the Jefferson Bible. Throw the rest away.

[proud patriot]

14. They must be confronted like this . Bravo to you

:applause: :patriot:

[Renew Deal]

25. I just don't see how you can advocate shooting people and call yourself a Christian.

What would Jesus say?

[gratuitous]

65. More bumper stickers like this, please

Buy 'em here and support some really swell people and close personal friends of mine:

http://www.brethren.org/oepa/resources/everyone/bumperstickers/

[bullwinkle428]

78. My girlfriend's mom has that bumper sticker on the back of her Buick! She totally rocks!

[mnhtnbb]

70. I suspect Jesus would say they are hypocrites. Call them what they are.

[helderheid]

15. Bless you!

:hug:

[VOX]

18. "What I'm saying is that God doesn't approve of it."So, does the cafe-guy know what God approves of?

And, if so, how'd he get the unlisted number? :evilgrin:

Unfortunately, many of these folks have taken something that should be beautiful and all-inclusive, but they've morphed it into an ugly vulgarity.

[SharonAnn]

22. How did God tell him that? Did he email him? or phone him? Or text him?

Exactly how does that work.

[SammyWinstonJack]

76. Voices in his head just like georgie.

:evilgrin: :crazy:

[formercia]

91. The same way the MEN who wrote the bible got the word of GOD

they pulled it out of their ass.

[Renew Deal]

23. Does he believe in an gun toting, english speaking Jesus?

:wtf:

I actually got myself involved in a conversatin about universal health care with some morans at a Waffle House by the Nashville airport. One of hem was pushing the whole "socialized medicine" bit and dragged in Hillary and others. I couldn't resist jumping in. I said something like... "Do you have insurance? So what are you going to do if you get sick tomorrow. And that access to health care is a human right."

[damntexdem]

35. As a former governor of Texas said: "If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me."

Give me that old-time religion: and the nice priest atop the pyramid will tear our enemy's heart out.

[Clark2008]

94. Heh... we always eat at that Waffle House when we travel

We live in Knoxville, but flights out of Nashville are cheaper, so we drive over (that may not be the case, now, with gasoline prices the way they are).

I know EXACTLY where you're talking about. :)

[Karl_Bonner_1982]

24. Let the far right make asses of themselves

...Because this story has legs, let's give some of the folks like the guy above and the anti-hate crimes preacher make a fool of themselves because it WILL backlash.

[indepat]

26. Being a native and a senior, I can vouch that TN is literally eaten up with the likes of his ilk

:D

[calimary]

60. I have to admit that I've had a distaste for all things Tennessee - since Tennessee

saw fit not to stand with its own favorite son (Al Gore) in 2000. Sorry, but that will always be the filter through which I look at that particular state. Wonder if they're happy with the way things turned out.

[indepat]

66. Tennesseans turned an outstanding US senator out of office largely for having had the temerity

to support some early civil rights legislation: his name was Al Gore, Sr. :D

[indepat]

67. Most Tennesseans probably haven't yet figured out any correlation in the bad state of the economy,

escalating prices, job losses, wage stagnation, loss of value of the dollar, the whole lot to junior's policies, actions, and pre-emptive wars of aggression. Look for Tennesseans to return 'puke senators when standing for re-election and my favorite, the inimitable Congress-critter, Marsha Blackburn.

[jahyarain]

103. oh. my. God.

now THAT woman gets on my last nerve. have u seen the ad 4 her touting her nra cred yet, somehow, the gun almost jumps out of her hands when she fires it? but she's over Brentwood, so, we'll never be rid of her.

[calimary]

119. marsha blackburn makes me nauseous.

Just damned sad what's happened there. And I'm pissed. Because hate radio and hate TV have made us all vulnerable. It's terrorism here on our shores and in our midst, fomented by the likes of Pox Noise and the rest of those schmucks. It's absolute domestic terrorism. And we should be calling it that, out in the open, ALL THE TIME.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3703830

[indepat]

121. Marsha, the epitome of 'pukedness imv, represents the best interests of but a very small segment of

the voters in her district and clearly her votes are detrimental to 90% of the yokels who vote for her, so all one can do is shake one's head in disbelief. :D

[Eric J in MN]

27. You've got guts!

NT

[bbgrunt]

32. good job. You are one

ballsy person. I guess I am so divorced from his way of thinking that I actually interpreted his words as chum referring to the right-wing hate talkers--and the sharks as being the crazies who act on their behalf.

[Ahpook]

33. I live in Knoxville as well.

We have do have quite a bit of that crap here, but it's a decent city. I mostly run into people that are simply misinformed, not necessarily hateful like this Adkisson.....person.

I do find it odd that this bunch you talked with are trying to explain away, and almost make murder sound acceptable. I can't imagine anyone even trying that.

[Postman]

36. He knows what "God " does and doesn't approve of.......He has a hotline to "God"

He ignores the Jesus part and goes right to the "God"....

There is no "God".....It's bullshit.

A ready made backstop to fall back on to justify their evil doings in the world.

[SammyWinstonJack]

79. "There is no 'God'.....It's bullshit."

:thumbsup: A ready made backstop to fall back on to justify their evil doings in the world. :applause:

They better hope there is no *God*...there isn't...or they are well and truly fucked! :evilgrin:

[progressoid]

37. This deserves a K&R

[Guaranteed]

42. Absolutely.

I don't think I can exaggerate the importance of directly confronting this type of thing.

And the OP did an outstanding job of it, too.

[elehhhhna]

38. He's (accidentally) right.... the "chum" is O'Reillly, Savage, et. al.

Freepers so suck at analogies.

[Mad_Dem_X]

46. That's what I was thinking

That the "chum" was all the right-wing hate he read/listened to.

[alphafemale]

73. That's what I thought the topic was going to be about.

[Guaranteed]

39. A proper confrontation.

Thank you for that. You helped your fellow humans today.

[HughMoran]

40. The rest of society thanks you

You have way more composure than I do - people like that make me crazy.

[Mad_Dem_X]

45. Good for you

You handled that very well!

[SalmonChantedEvening]

49. Fine. Which one of your chums do I toss in first.

That woulda been my first question.

:grr:

[Clark2008]

50. From one Tennessee liberal to another...

:applause: :applause: :applause:

[mitchum]

56. Just another ignorant and superstitious cracker peckerwood

Y'know, I hate his type, but I'm never gonna walk into a meeting of his magic friend club and start shooting

[tnlefty]

57. Ah, more of the blame the victims thinking from the cretins

in our state. :mad: These stupid asshats can't handle a thought that is different from their own, and if the thought is different, well, 'had it comin' to 'em'. You handled the situation very well. :thumbsup: If the shoe were on the other foot the cretins would be thinking differently I think.

[dysfunctional press]

58. we've certainly been given a truly enlightened time to stomp the terra, eh...?

thank-you...god? :shrug:

[JustAnotherGen]

59. YOU

Are my hero tonight.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

63. Real "law and order conservatives" huh?

Blame the victim....you're only a victim as long as you agree with my politics.

[lonestarnot]

64. Excellent!

Thank you for having courage! :hug:

[TornadoTN]

74. Thanks for all of the great comments and kind words

I wrote this post at the end of my workday yesterday and ended up posting it and signing off. Having a busy home life with a three year old and other various obligations, I didn't get to check in on the post last night. I was happy to see so many people had taken notice of the post.

I noticed that a lot of people had initially interpreted my post as directed to the right-wing hate spewers with the "chum in the water" statement. While I can see how this can be interpreted this way, living in East Tennessee gives it a different meaning. The perversion of religion is at highest (in my opinion) here in Eastern TN. While we are making great strides towards coming back to the rest of civilized society, there's still a long road to ahead of us. The right wing stranglehold on politics and their manipulation of religion has done more harm to the people of this region than most people can ever imagine.

I am a non-religious person but a student of history, so I look at the Bible as another historical text open for interpretation. There are a lot of good things in it - things that churches and denominations should strive hard to achieve along with the rest of society. But there are a lot of other things that render a lot of the good almost completely useless and corrupts society with hate and fear. We've seen this taken to another level here in Knoxville. Hopefully - to the rest of this country - this is a wake-up call. But I fear that this will only serve to further divide the religious and non-religious, the liberal and conservative, and the neighbor vs. neighbor conflict that brews here in the South with fervor.

[drmeow]

111. According to the Pew Charitable Trust

the only two denominations where more than 50% of the people who call themselves that consider their religion to be the only way to salvation are Mormons (57%) and Jehovah's Witnesses (80%).

Those are also the two groups who are most anti-gay (68% and 76%) followed by Evangelical (64%) and Muslim (61%). Over 50% of all Mainline (non-evangelical) Protestants, Catholics, and other Christians say homosexuality should be accepted (56, 58, and 69 percent).

What divides the religious and non-religious is less the beliefs of the individuals and more the teaching of the leaders and silence of the liberal Christians. My guess is that many of the Christians who think homosexuality should be accepted by society don't ever admit that to their fellow congregation members for fear numerous repercussions so don't even know that over statistically over 50% of them believe the same way. Once again, the vocal minority silences the majority.

I think for those in the silent majority, this may be the wake up call they finally need. Or, it may push them further underground.

http://religions.pewforum.org/

[Alcibiades]

77. Who would Jesus blow away?

Did God have a shotgun back in the old times?

[Ikonoklast]

80. My standard question for the 'fire and brimstone' Christians is

"Have you ever eaten shellfish, or lobster? Yes? You're going to hell, as per your own Bible."

[yardwork]

89. I ask them if they like pork barbecue and fried shrimp.

Those are two of the fundies' most favorite foods in North Carolina.

[yardwork]

81. Have you considered reporting this to the police?

Crimes like this sometimes spin off copycats. Maybe the man in the restaurant wasn't just blowing smoke. In any case, it sounds like it might do him good to have a chat with the police about the ramifications of encouraging mass murder.

[TornadoTN]

85. Not really - besides, the police (here at least) would probably cheer him on

They would at the very least, cheer his gay bashing. This region isn't exactly well known for its gay friendliness.

That's probably the biggest wedge issue in this state as overall we are turning quite "purple" politically.

[yardwork]

88. They might agree with his gay-bashing, but I doubt they'd be happy if he commits mass murder.

There's a difference between saying "I hate gay people" and saying "Those queers had it coming - any church that promotes that kind of thing deserves to get shot up." The first is free speech. The second is arguably free speech, but it's also something the police might want to know about.

[sonias]

82. Way to respond TornadoTN

"...he didn't do anything that God wouldn't have done in the old times" What total crap that guy was spewing.

I can only hope he gave some thought to your words.

:applause:


Sonia

[bdamomma]

83. hmm... I liked your last question to the person you were talking too.

he didn't give you an answer either.

[Reader Rabbit]

90. "Jesus was crucified because of people who think like you."

Jesus was different from the people of his time, people who disliked difference and change were threatened, and so they aided and abetted his execution by the Romans.

That would have been my response, but yours was excellent. Maybe you got that guy and his friends to think, instead of parroting what others tell them.

[yellerpup]

93. Good for you.

If you don't take an opposite stand with these hateful people when you hear it in public, they assume that everyone agrees with them. I'm glad he was still non-political enough to feel shame.

[Bolo Boffin]

95. Good on you.

Loud-mouthed ignorance should always be confronted and corrected.

[paparush]

96. Ask Him, "Ok, so a liberal goes in and shoots up a conservative, Mega Church .."

How is that any different?

Doesn't God find those people offensive as well? They are clearly not following Christ's teachings.

[glitch]

99. I think very possibly you actually made him think.

If so, that is a remarkable achievement, well done!

[20score]

101. By just reading the headline I thought that this thread was going to

be about how right wing hate talk brings out the crazies. (This is much worse, with the crazies blaming the sane. Damn.) But, thank you for confronting those, well assholes, to be polite.

[Divine Discontent]

102. wonderful. ty. eom

[cyndensco]

107. Bravo to you for confronting the ignorance.

You were able to make your point in a dignified way.

The problem, though, is that small-minded people like this will more than likely never be swayed. He probably spews his hate only to those who agree with him and seldom hears a dissenting voice. You changed that with your exchange. Did it cause him to think? Sadly, I doubt it.

Still, good for you for trying. We should all try to eradicate ignorance.

[philly_bob]

109. Novelist John Updike wrote about false, violent Christians

In his novel "In the Beauty of the Lilies", Updike follows four generations of Americans, from a 19th century Protestant preacher who decided he didn't believe in God (and was shunned by society for it), to his great grandson, was was inducted into a Branch-Davidian-like cult. In the exciting climax, when cops are assaulting the cult headquarters, the cult leader starts shooting the cult's children. The great grandson says, more or less, "Like my great grandfather, I don't know whether I believe in God, but I know enough about God to say that this idiot is a blasphemous fraud!" He then picks up a gun and shoots the cult leader!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Beauty_of_the_Lilies

It would make a great movie! One of the descendants of the original preacher is a glamorous movie star.

[BrklynLiberal]

110. You are a courageous and incredibly well-spoken person.

This is a great thread... K&R

[Brewman_Jax]

112. He and his ilk probably believe in this guy...

[2008]

117. You did well. Some would have lost their tempers, which never changes anyone's mind

Sounds like you gave him something to think about without resorting to anger or personal attacks