Category Opinion
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Yesterday a crazed gunman viciously and brutally assaulted the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, TN. As reported in the CNN story:

A shotgun-wielding man opened fire at a Unitarian church during a children's play Sunday morning, killing two adults and wounding seven others before being overpowered by congregants, officials said. Jim Adkisson, 58, was charged with first-degree murder after Sunday's shooting at the Knoxville church.

One of the victims, Linda Kraeger, 61, died at a hospital several hours after the shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, Knoxville municipal spokesman Randall Kenner said. Also killed was Greg McKendry, a 60-year-old usher and board member at the church, police said earlier in the day.
A suspect, Jim Adkisson, 58, of Powell, Tennessee, was charged with one count of first-degree murder, Kenner said Sunday evening. Adkisson is not believed to have been a member of the Knoxville church, and investigators have not determined a motive for the shooting, Knoxville Police Chief Sterling Owen told reporters.

Later in the day it was reported that a letter was left in the suspect's truck. The police reported that the letter stated the reason for the attack was a hatred for "liberals" and "gays", and the suspect seemed to blame both groups, among others, for his loss of work and being unable to find more work - and he saw the symbol for all of this to be this UU church. It was pretty obvious that Adkisson did not expect to come out alive, either. He stated in the letter that he expected to continue attacking the church until the police arrived, where he expected them to kill him.

And it is pretty obvious that Adkisson expected to do a great deal of damage; he brought 76 shells for his .12 guage, semi-automatic shotgun. The one fortunate thing is that Adkisson did not target children, as reported by witnesses attending the service; a service where a children's play was taking place. The other fortunate thing is that there were heroes in attendance yesterday morning - Adkisson was able to only get three rounds off before being attacked and subdued by the heroes.

However, the damage has been done. As of this morning, 2 people have died from the attack, and many more are injured.

I am deeply saddened by this attack. While most attacks on churches are perpetrated upon Christian and Judaic congregations, UUs are also targets as well (typically by crazy conservatives).

However, UUs are not without their share of persecution throughout history. UUs (and their predecessors, the Unitarians, Universalists, and before them the Congregationalists) have been active participants in fighting our country's, and even the world's, persecutions. For instance, durnig the U.S. Civil War UUs were very active in the "Underground Railroad", saving countless slaves. UUs were also very active in the U.S. Civil Rights movement; in fact a letter from Coretta Scott King hangs in my congregation's church building, where she thanks our congregation for their help during her time of need, after Dr. King's assassination. Earlier in Atlanta's history my church was responsible for the creation of the only public library in Atlanta where blacks were allowed to check out books. During World War II there were UUs in Germany that helped hide Jews and others from the Nazis, and because of this UUs were actively persued by Nazis and placed in concentration camps. In fact, during a trip to Munich a few years ago my daugher and I (as well as Ben Langhinrich's daughter - Ben's family is UU as well) visited Dachau concentration camp, where we found a memorial plaque to the UUs who were exterminated there.

But this tragedy brings it home, and makes it all to real for me and my family. I have taken the time to explain it to my children, but it still is frightening. And I cannot help but keep our "extended UU family" in Knoxville in my thoughts.

I had planned on a more lighthearted post today - a review of a nifty freeware product - but it seems trivial in light of this tragedy. I'll post my review tomorrow, but instead today I ask you keep the Tennessee Valley UU congregation in your thoughts and heart.

Rock