Religious Left

by Will Moredock The Charleston City Newspaper When Jim Adkisson walked into a Unitarian Universalist church in Knoxville, Tenn., on July 27 and opened fire with a 12-gauge semiautomatic shotgun, he said he did it because he was angry at "liberals." Among the Americans who called themselves Unitarians were Thomas Jefferson, John and John Quincy Adams, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Adlai Stevenson. There are too many hate-mongers in the pulpits and on the airwaves in America, telling people like Jim Adkisson that the source of their pain is liberals or blacks or homosexuals. (He probably found all three at the Tennessee Valley UU Church on July 27.) So when we hand out responsibility for this tragedy, let's not forget Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Pat Robertson. Without the culture of hate they have been brewing over the last 20 years, this could not have happened. full article

Editorial The Anniston Star On Sunday, a gunman shot up Knoxville's Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, killing two worshipers and injuring a half-dozen more. Jim David Adkisson, the man police are charging in the shooting, was on a mission. Authorities say he picked the Knoxville congregation "because of its liberal teachings and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country, and that he felt that the Democrats had tied his country's hands in the war on terror and they had ruined every institution in America with the aid of major media outlets." His views line up with the nasty, dehumanizing invective found on countless outlets, including talk radio, Fox News and conservative Web sites. On Monday, police reported that a search of Adkisson's residence revealed three book titles: The O'Reilly Factor by Bill O'Reilly, Liberalism is a Mental Disorder by Michael Savage, and Let Freedom Ring: Winning the War of ...

by James Nimmo OpEd News On Sunday, July 27, in Knoxville, TN a Unitarian Universalist Church was turned into an abattoir by a deranged man who shot seven people. Two, so far, have died. The killer is in police custody after being subdued by others in the building. The church, Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, had just recently advertised itself as a welcoming gay/lesbian affirming congregation which means exactly what it sounds like. When was the last time an openly gay/lesbian opened fire on a collection of bible fundies hot with the fire of righteousness for the cause of religious purity? When did you last hear an openly gay/lesbian legislator use their personal privilege on the floor of their state legislature or Congress to lobby for the passage of a bill that would limit any demographic group's aspect of their protection of the law as outlined in the Bill of Rights? To commemorate, but not to honor, this twisted manipulation of the public forum and society I...

By Donald E. Skinner UUworld.org Unitarian Universalists rejoiced when the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the state cannot bar same-sex couples from marrying. The Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of California (UULMCA) played a key role in Thursday’s decision by mobilizing religious organizations in support of equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. The legislative ministry, supported by UU congregations across the state, organized a friend of the court brief, the Interfaith Amicus Brief, which was signed by more than 400 clergy and faith organizations. The Rev. Lindi Ramsden, executive director of the UULMCA, said the brief was cited twice in the court’s opinion. Many UU ministers and congregations signed on to the brief, in addition to other religious organizations including the Union for Reform Judaism, the General Synod of the United Church of Christ, and the California Council of Churches. full article