So the church parishioner should have just let a potential massacre happen?

[Mike Daniels]

Every thread regarding the CO chuch shootings seems to have some post along the lines of "I guess "thou shall not kill" is open to interpretation".

For those posters, I have a simple question. What was the alternative?

Don't give me "shoot to disarm" as that only works in movies and fantasy.

[H2O Man]

1. I think that

she did the right thing.

[aquart]

2. I thought she did shoot to disarm first. But he wouldn't stop.

I'm afraid that my compassion is for the woman who will have that selfish asshole's face in front of her eyes for the rest of her life.

[Mike Daniels]

7. One account was that she gave the shooter a chance to surrender

and the perp shot at her first forcing her to return fire.

The account seems to change every so often as things of this nature tend to do.

Either way, anyone who chooses this event to make some supposedly witty comment about "thou shall not kill" is simply an idiot.

[UnyieldingHierophant]

10. Honestly, I would have gave no warning to the guy

If she did, she's a cool customer, I would have just dumped the clip.

[LoZoccolo]

3. There's really no use arguing with those people.

You can say what you want on the Internet, annoy lots of people with it, and face little consequences. That's what's happening here.

[atreides1]

4. No, She did her job

What people need to remember is that the actual translation is "Thou Shalt not Murder", as far as alternatives there's always the New Testament line of "turning the other cheek"!

Shooting to disarm can be accomplished, but shooting to kill is what most law enforcement and the military train their personnel for.

[malaise]

5. .That was simple self defense

note SHE did what she had to do. No imaginary god shot anyone or provided her with inspiration. That interpretation may make her feel better but it pisses me the hell off.

[Tejas]

22. your anger at her "interpretation" had she been aboard a plane in 2001?

Me, I don't care if she was a Moonie thinking the criminal was an alien that just stepped off his spaceship.

I don't care if the potted plant next to the door told her to do it.

She saved lives.

[Omphaloskepsis]

6. I thought we already had a few threads about the shootings..

Why drop your litter here with starting a new thread instead of posting your thoughts in one of the many that already exist?

[Mike Daniels]

9. Because I find the concept that self-defense is moral hypocrisy to be intriguing in its own right

[tanyev]

8. I have no problem with what she did, but it's very odd to hear the "God is my co-shooter" thinking.

[earthside]

11. Armed Guards at Churches

Look at the bigger picture -- this is what is happening in the United States of America.

We have armed guards patrolling these mega-churches?

How rampant is our fear?

How angry and distraught are our youth?

How much alienation from society is seething among our people?

What is also of great interest -- as a sign of the state of our culture -- is that there are so many folks positively giddy over the armed guard shooting and killing this kid. The focal point of this tragedy is increasingly about how it was 'heroic' that a guard killed a crazy man. The call for everyone to carry a weapon to defend themselves is already growing. That should tell us how afraid and fearful so many people have become in Bush's 9/11 America -- they cheer for the killing of the 'bad guys' whether here or in Iraq or in Afghanistan.

Sadly, this incident, the mall massacre last week, Virginia Tech, etc., are solid indications that civil society in this country is breaking down.

[ret5hd]

12. When you realize that these places are less "churches" than...

indoctrination camps for the military/industrial/capitalistic/fascist complexes you will have fewer questions.

[Ilsa]

19. ITA. They are living and dying by the sword, so to speak. nt

[Virginia Dare]

13. I agree with that...

any church that is so large and impersonal, they need to have security guards for the parishioners and body guards for the ministers, that would not be a church that I would attend.

[malaise]

14. If you had conned as many people as

Ted Haggart did along the way, you'd need armed guards. All mega-churches have bodyguards for their con men.

[gratuitous]

16. No, no, no

Don't look at any bigger picture; focus only on one small, tightly circumscribed incident. Otherwise the argument begins to crack, fragment and fall apart, and the High Church of Redemptive Violence will not brook heresy. In my congregation (and lots of others), we call it "proof texting," a device designed to squelch all further discussion by slamming down a selected verse like the ace of trumps. Same thing's happening here, but you're not supposed to notice.

[Ilsa]

17. I wonder how many other kids are being raised the same way

as the shooter. Somehow, he got the idea that he was "justified" in doing this. He had some rationale for doing what he had been taught was wrong. If churches are becoming militant in the way they behave politically and in how they raise their kids, is it any wonder that they need security systems and armed guards for a house of worship, which should be a house of peace?

Maybe putting schools on church property is not such a good idea; maybe that changes the perception that a place is "holy".

[Virginia Dare]

15. I haven't been through these threads you cite here..

however, maybe at least some of the snark is more directed at the hypocritical fundies who pick and choose which of God's laws are open to interpretation, and which aren't?

[bemildred]

18. Of course not. She did right. nt

[Fleshdancer]

20. If I'm going to judge anyone....

it's going to be the nut who took the time to plan for and follow through on slaughtering innocent people in their place of worship.

[quickesst]

21. I was struck...

by her contention that the police training she recieved while working in law enforcement, had absolutely nothing to do with the actions she took. Looks like, if you choose the "right" people for law enforcement jobs, any training for said occupation would be unnecessary. Just an observation. Thanks.
quickesst