Shootings at the UU Church in Knoxville

[lilithu]

In case you haven't heard, a gunman entered the Tennessee Valley UU church in Knoxville yesterday, while the church was full to watch a children's play, and opened fire. Two have died. Seven others injured, five of them seriously. The gunman has no known connection with the church. The rumour is that he said "hateful things" as he was shooting.

This is a link to the story:
2 killed in Tennessee church shooting; suspect charged - CNN.com

This is the church website:
TVUUC

I found out about it when I logged onto SecondLife. The UUs there have been holding vigil and taken up a donation. Weird to hold a vigil virtually, but somehow it works. Anyway, thought yall should know. Please hold the congregation in your prayers and/or thoughts.

 

[Wandered Off]

Sad news indeed.

 

[Charity]

Sorry to hear this......I will be praying :sad4:

 

[Storm]

We heard about this in services yesterday, but there were no details about it. Thank you for the article.

 

[Kungfuzed]

That just blew me away this morning when I saw it on the news. It really makes no sense at all. The shooter must have been insane. What a tragedy.

 

[Engyo]

Evidently the church was targetted because they are liberal.

Church shooting suspect angry over job search, police say - CNN.com

I don't even quite know what to think about this.

 

[JewishLeftist]

This is truly reprehensible. Although i am not a UU i recognize UU as one of the truly tolerant religions out there in the world today. The shooter should be prosecuted as a terrorist for using violence to force his political beliefs upon ordinary people.

 

[painted wolf]

my heart goes out to everyone involved. My wife is a member of our local UU church and while I'm not a member it sickens me that someone would attack a group of people who pride themselves on tolarance and respect for others.

wa:do

 

[lilithu]

Found out from the UUA today that there were two UU congregations affected. Well, all UU congregations are affected, but two were directly hurt by the violence. I don't think the media cares about such details, but UUs and friends may want to know. The shooting happened at the Tennessee Valley UU Church, and the first victim who died on the spot was from that congregation. But since there was a kids' musical production going on, it was a joint worship between two UU congregations, as the kids were from both congregations. Westside UU Fellowship was visiting, so the sanctuary was even more packed than usual. The second victim to die was from Westside. They are hurting just as much so please hold them in your thoughts as well.

I hear that the media coverage is almost as stressful as the shooting, with news crews going to church members' houses and ringing their doorbells for interviews. The media didn't give a bleep when a UU shot his estranged wife, her partner, their (his own) two kids and himself last year. Five dead. But make it about someone committing a hate crime targeting liberals and the media literally is camped out in the church's parking lot. The New Times asked whether we prefer to be called a "religion" or a "cult." :areyoucra Does anyone know anyone who aspires to be called a "cult"?? This is how they, the "liberal media," responds to people's suffering??

I hear the vigil last night was very moving. President Sinkford flew in to speak, and even tho the killer said he specifically targeted the church for its liberalism, Sinkford said this incident would not affect our work for social justice. Amen. And then.... at the end... the kids surprised everyone at the vigil by singing "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow" from Annie, which they would have sung on Sunday had they not been interrupted. Can't think of a more fitting thing for them to do.

 

[Storm]

Thank you for that, Lilithu.

 

[Reverend Rick]

Our prayers for these folks will be answered.

 

[lilithu]

Hey all, namaste.

In response to the shootings in Knoxville last Sunday, I would like to have my congregation fold paper cranes and send them to the two congregations affected, and will call my church today for permission to set up a table on Sunday. Am sending this idea out to UU lists and forums that I know in case others would like to join. The churches addresses are on UUA.org, but I can post them here if someone needs them.

In faith and for peace,
-lilith

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

Some of the TVUUC members have posted their experiences on their blogs. While not graphic they are detailed so have a kleenex handy before reading.

bekitty: Tomorrow, there'll be sun.
The malapert bookworm - Love is the spirit of this church: I was there at TVUUC
Salvador Dalai Llama

It is not the love of money that is the root of all evil but the hatred of our fellow man.

 

[Valjean]

I don't know how to fold cranes.

 

[lilithu]

I don't know how to fold cranes.

Scroll to the end of this blogpost and there is a video showing how:
Inspired Faith, Effective Action: 63rd Anniversary of Hiroshima Day

 

[Valjean]

Amazing!
It's hard to imagine how stoned someone must have been to come up with this! :angel2:

Frubals.

 

[Kungfuzed]

I've been folding paper cranes here at work while on the phone. I've got six of them so far. I even figured out a way to skip a couple steps in the process, resulting in a larger crane but isn't as strong and durable. I've been using the pages from last year's Sudoku calander, so the cranes have numbers and blocks all over them, good for practice anyway.

 

[lilithu]

Amazing!
It's hard to imagine how stoned someone must have been to come up with this! :angel2:

Frubals.

lol, you seriously have never encountered this?? It's an ancient practice in the East Asian countries that I thought had made it into Western (at least North American) consciousness. My grandma taught me how to fold cranes, as well as how to cut repeating patterns in paper to make things like people holding hands.

And I think the blog post to which I linked also explains how the paper crane came to symbolize a wish for peace and healing. At any rate, the Knoxville congregations have specifically asked for paper crane for their kids. Imagine how traumatic it was for them - they were performing on stage in front of their home congregations, their big day after months of practice, and this guy comes in and starts shooting. I wonder whether the sanctuary will ever feel safe for them again.

I wanted to share this excerpt from a statement from UUA president, Rev. William G. Sinkford:

“It will take time for Unitarian Universalists to mourn and to heal. But let me assure you that we will not change our beliefs or compromise our demands for social justice. Fear will not prevent us from standing on the side of love, and we will continue to open our doors and our hearts to all people. This Sunday, just like any other, more than one thousand Unitarian Universalist congregations will be open for business, and our business is to welcome the stranger, to love our neighbor, to nurture the spirits of our people, and to help heal our wounded world.”

Sinkford’s complete statement can be found at UUA: UUA President Responds to Knoxville Tragedy, Vows Continued Social Justice Work

 

[applewuud]

The Knoxville UU church reclaimed its sanctuary Sunday; the local TV station compiled some moving excerpts from the service and interviews after it The video should be here:

WBIR.com | Knoxville, TN | Video

A few posts have been forwarded to me which bear quoting here. From Of Madmen and Martyrs: A Unitarian Take On Knoxville | OurFuture.org by Sara Robinson, a Canadian Unitarian (emphasis mine):

Whatever the reasons turn out to be, there are at least two lessons I hope y'all take away from today's events.

One is that you can bet that the members of this congregation will find a novel way to approach their healing — and in doing so, they'll set an example for the rest of us to watch carefully. If (when) mental illness becomes the issue, they will respond to this man and his family with compassion and justice, because that's the UU way. And if hate turns out to be part of the story, too, then Knoxville, Tenn., is about to have a dialogue on hate crime that will leave nobody in town untouched or uninvolved. That's the UU way, too.

The other is that this congregation's cool, brave response shows, once again, that it's past time to drop that old stereotype, and stop underestimating the courage and intelligence of the religious left in America. We've gotten incredibly short shrift over the past few decades — not only from the religious right, which thinks we're the minions of Satan on earth; but also from fellow progressives, who think that "religious" is a synonym for crazy, dangerous, irrational and definitely not an asset to the movement.

Secular progressives don't seem to understand that while politics is all about how we're going to make the world better, progressive religion tells us why it's necessary to work for change, and what "better" will look like when we get there. Liberal faith traditions offer the essential metaphors and worldview that everything else derives from — the frames that give our dreams shape and meaning. It has an invaluable role to play in helping our movement set its values and priorities, understand where we are in the larger scheme, and gauge whether we're succeeding or not.

The conservative movement knew from the get that it would not succeed unless it could offer people this kind of deeper narrative. Providing that was one of the most important things the religious right brought to their party. Progressivism will not defeat it until we can offer another narrative about what America can and should be — and our liberal churches have longer, harder, better experience than anyone at developing and communicating those stories, and building thriving — and on occasions like today, literally bulletproof — communities around them.

And then there's that long, tough history to draw on. The UUs, along with the Congregationalists and Quakers, have been at the beating heart of American liberalism since before the country was founded. We've faced down the ignorant and the arrogant, the terrified and the unreasonable, the cops and the courts and the Congress so many times that it's not even news any more. Civil disobedience is built into our bones (yes, *sigh,* Thoreau was one of ours, too), and we've come to regard it as one of our more important sacraments. These days, it's not only in our defense of gay rights and our gathering fury about torture, but also in our leadership role in the New Sanctuary Movement defending immigrants from Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.

If the right wing ever does turn its anti-liberal crusade into a shooting war, it's easy to predict that the country's UU churches will be among their first targets. What's less predictable — unless you know the people, the theology, and the history, or took careful note of everything that happened in Tennessee Sunday — is just how surprisingly fierce and fearless that response is likely to be.

Grief and pride taste strange together, but I am full of both for the people of the Tennessee Valley UUC. After all, it could be any UU church in America. That's the bad news. It's the good news, too.

A UU minister had some comments on this blog post that also bear repeating:

More importantly, it promotes the idea that the right wing is our enemy,
without naming who or what the right wing is. Is it the religious right
wing? Is it the political right wing? I don't believe they are one and the
same. And, I don't believe that all right wingers are crazy, hate-mongering
people.

I would change this sentence to read:
"it's past time to drop that old stereotype, and stop underestimating the
courage and intelligence of the religious

in America."

It's still a good article, in that it calls us to do and be more, while some
comforting words. However, as long as we keep demonizing a broad labeled
swath of people, they will most likely respond in kind. I don't know
exactly where all this "othering" started. But, I do feel that we are
called by our profession of faith and principles, to stop it.

I believe there are many conservatives and fundamentalists who are as
shocked and horrified that the Knoxville event is attributed to them. They
are grieving, too. Some of them actually believe that it is a mortal sin to
kill someone else.​

​

Reports that the police found a number of cassettes by right-wing radio host Michael Savage in the shooter's apartment are the background for this comment:

Those I do fault, and fall prey (myself) to making "the other" are all the
radio and TV "hate shows". I could be convinced and persuaded to call them
the enemy, particularly in light of their access to the hearts and minds of
a sometimes non-discriminating public. We become what we worship - and how
we spend our time. Hate TV and radio, inserts itself into people's lives
and lures them into hate, I believe.

The other thing that bothers me a bit, is the author's reference and use
southern drawl (y'all and libruls). It appears that she is from Vancouver,
Canada, and I find it demeaning for her to use a speaking pattern that is
inherent to an entire southern culture, to make all of them look like the
characture of simple minded, hate filled, red-necks. It just plain isn't
true.

We need to discriminate between who the real enemy is, and who are our
allies.

​

 

[applewuud]

Dr. Joe Barnhart, a professor of religion and philosophy who was at the service at TVUUC and was wounded by the gunman, was interviewed by a local station in the hospital. Told by the media the shooter was targeting liberals, he said: "The liberals I know are like the conservatives I know. They don't go around shooting each other..."

The clip is at WBIR.com | Knoxville, TN | Video under "Church Shooting Victim Speaks from Hospital". Sorry I couldn't get the actual link.

He was also very articulate on the Today Show the next morning...I'll try and find that.