As an atheist I am shocked and repulsed to hear this. As a person with a mental health problem I can tell you, there is no excuse, ever, for killing other people in this manner.
The professor he killed was named Levine. I suppose he could have been Christian, but that sure sounds Jewish to me.
This latest murderer was allegedly a white supremacist despite being multiracial himself; he was also a self-described “spiritual” young man with a growing gun armory who was booted out of the military for being unfit. He wrote somewhat longingly about how famous the Columbine and Sandy Hook shooters became, their names on everyone’s lips almost instantly.
Without getting too technical, the guy was off his rocker. If this unhappy, unstable young man wanted notoriety before he died, using references to religion during the killings–particularly specifying Christians–was certainly the way to do it. But it seems he was after people in his own writing class than anyone else.
The Times confirmed that if a person admitted to being Christian, he shot them in the head; otherwise in the leg.
wow, absolutely chilling. Knowing stuff like that is why I don’t even like reading/hearing about topics like this.
I don’t know about this small town in Oregon, but I have heard that the Pacific Northwest in general is the least religious region of the country, so religious Christians may well be a small minority there.
ahem
Peoples Temple
Heaven’s Gate
The Manson Family
Just because you’re a hippie, it doesn’t mean that you’re not human.
I keep hearing the shooter was both a white supremacists* and that he self-described as “mixed race”. What races is he mixed from?
I’ve seen his father, and he’s a pretty typical white-guy Brit. Is his mother Asian or part Asian? Part black? I know it’s possible to be part black and lean towards white supremacists ideas, but I suspect it’s pretty rare. Unusual, but not unheard of.
*or had “leanings” in that direction
His mother is black, but of course the MSM has not been mentioning this fact.
Nor are they showing her photo. Only photos and interviews with his white father.
Well, as I mentioned in the OP, this particular claim was also made about Columbine and it turned out not to be true. It’s still unclear whether it’s completely true in this case. In any event, I asked in good faith for the facts.
He was also a black white supremacist like that guy from Chappelle’s Show. I found it very odd to read a lot of comments from people when his (obviously bi-racial looking) picture was released who said things like “look another white skinhead, right-wing gun nut.” Undoubtedly (not) the same group of people who accused that bi-racial BLM activist of faking his blackness.
Was the killer a high ranking member of the Obama administration?
How many Christians were victimized? All of them?
What should we do about guns if people with guns are victimizing Christians?
Oh I see. The people on the SDMB are the ones victimizing Christians, so they’re the bad guys.
Dunno, I am not a christian. But it’s perverse to claim christians were not being persecuted in an incident where they were singled out for being shot.
Unbelievable; being victimized for victimizing. Unbelievable.
Is there any evidence he ever claimed to be a white supremecist (blog postings or pictures or anything?) I’m wondering if some numbskull journalist heard of the shooting and made some sort of mental leap to white supremacy, or just posted unfounded rumors he heard without doing even the most basic fact-checking.
Moderator Warning
Claverhouse, you’ve been warned a number of times for political jabs in GQ. This is an official warning for a religious jab.
You’ve had enough warnings at this point that the next one will probably bring your posting privileges under discussion.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Moderating
This being GQ, let’s stick to the factual aspects of this question. If you want to discuss general claims of victimization of Christians, open a thread in Great Debates. Let’s confine this one to the specifics of this particular case.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
As far as I can tell, there are no primary sources for the claim; Boylan’s and a male named J.J. Vicari’s families have been the ones saying it. That doesn’t make it untrue, of course, though as the OP notes similar claims were made in the wake of the Columbine shootings and later debunked.
Roseburg has been described as “a red dot in a sea of blue”. Outside of the larger cities west of the Cascade Range (Portland, Salem), a large part of Oregon is red, with the traditional values that that implies.
At least one second-hand eyewitness to the shootings doesn’t interpret the shooter as targeting Christians:
Another second-hand eyewitness says Christians were targeted:
http://ktla.com/2015/10/01/umpqua-community-college-shooter-targeted-christians-father-of-oregon-shooting-victim-says/
It seems it may be too soon to actually answer this question - the accounts we have even now, several days afterwards, are still relayed to the reporters through another person, and it’s not clear the contradiction will be resolved even when reporters speak directly to the survivors.