Church copes with 'frightening times'

Rabbi discusses mind-set of accused murderer during Unitarian services Sunday

By DOUG DAVIS
dougdavis@dnj.com

Rabbi Rami Shapiro visited the Unitarian Fellowship of Murfreesboro Sunday trying to bring clarity to the actions of a man who opened fire in a Knoxville church last Sunday, killing two and wounding seven.

"We live in frightening times," Shapiro said. "We live in times when it is not enough to disagree with others, we must demonize them. We live in a demon-haunted time."

The local author and frequent speaker at the UFM discussed the mind-set of accused killer Jim David Adkisson a week earlier at a Knoxville Unitarian Universalist Church.

Adkisson wrote that he hated liberals and was bitter he couldn't find a job, police said in the aftermath. Knoxville Police Chief Sterling Owen said investigators discovered a four-page letter in Adkisson's vehicle outside the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.

In the letter, Adkisson, 58, of Powell, "repeatedly included disgust for what he perceived to be the liberals in our country," said Owen. "And (Adkisson) repeatedly said how frustrated he was he could not get a job."

Adkisson had also received a letter from the state saying that he would likely be receiving fewer food stamps.

Shapiro gave his own opinion as to what led to the tragedy in Knoxville.

"The man was slaying demons. He called them liberals, and was fed a never-ending stream of vile lies that told him these demon liberals hate America, hate our soldiers, hate the family, the flag, the fetus and God," said Shapiro.

The lecturer told approximately 50 in the Sunday morning service held at the Center for the Arts in Murfreesboro that demonization is the fifth stage of a five-stage conditioning process identified as the key to turning people into terrorists.

Demonization of people who have ideas different goes beyond stripping the identities of people you don't agree with and even beyond realizing your enemies can't understand your ideas, Shapiro said.

"Not only are (enemies) wrong, they are evil and evil must be obliterated," said Shapiro, explaining the concept.

UFM chaplain Bob Pondillo lit a candle for Greg McKendry, a member of the church who stood between the gunman's shotgun blast and the congregation, Linda Kreager, who was at the church service, and for Adkisson.

Earlier he explained why he is a Unitarian.

"I belong to this great fellowship because I am interested in a way to create a religious response to the problems and possibilities of our times. I belong to this fellowship where there's a place for passion and poetry in the observance of faith, and where human sexual diversity in all shapes and forms — gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, is not merely tolerated but joyfully welcomed in love and peace."

He acknowledged he was still hurting because of the terrible events a week earlier in Knoxville.

"I intellectually sympathize with Mr. Adkisson's plight — but love, him?" said Pondillo. He said he needed the Unitarian Fellowship to help him.

The rabbi said the church had options.

"We can circle the wagons, search people for weapons as they come through our doors, and worry that every new face is potentially that of a terrorist here to do us harm," he said, or open the doors wider.

Jerry Bailey, a member of the Murfreesboro church for a approximately a year, said before the service began that he didn't think added security would do any good.

"If somebody wants to come in and shoot the place up, you can't stop them," he said.

During the service, Shapiro quickly dismissed adding security to the weekly meetings, saying that those who currently come to the church would stop attending.

"We can align ourselves more fiercely with liberalism and argue more loudly against the evil right-wing pundits ... ," he said. "But this only perpetuates the demonization threatening process in America and does nothing to end it."

The third approach, he suggested, was the best one.

"Instead of closing our doors, we should open them all the wider," he said. "Instead of shutting down opinionated speech, we should invite neighbors over for tea and conversation."

Shapiro called some of the victims of the July 27 church shooting heroes, but not martyrs.

"Martyrs die for their faith, these poor people died because of it," he said. "They died because Adkisson was infected with the hate that is fast becoming the life-blood in America. (He) was as much a victim as those he murdered. Adkisson is part of the madness that is sweeping our nation. He is not the first to murder the demons he imagines and fears, nor will he be the last."

Adkisson, charged with one count of first-degree murder, is scheduled to appear at a preliminary court hearing Tuesday.

UFM church member Ruth Funkhouse has been a Unitarian Universalist for 15 years, and joined the Murfreesboro group when she moved to Murfreesboro three years ago.

"I like the caring concept (here)," she said. "If somebody needs something, (the members) do it."

She discussed the shooting last week in Knoxville.

"This is a group you come to for help, why would you hate them?" she said.

Tamarin Allen, a psychiatric social worker at Middle Tennessee Mental Health Institute in Nashville, came to the service Sunday at the invitation of her mother.

"I wanted to learn more about what Unitarians stand for," she said. "It was incredibly moving to find a place that is so inclusive. Every church I have been to has been exclusive."

USA Today contributed to this story.

Hoagland, Jean

Jul 28, 2008, Age: 92