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Plano church 'firebombed' before Sunday services

essentialsaltes

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FireDragon76

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Sadly, this isn't the first time a UU church has been attacked. They are frequent targets for hate crimes, because they are a gay welcoming religious community.
 
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Lukaris

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This is another tragedy and hatred is on the rise from all sides.


 
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FireDragon76

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This is another tragedy and hatred is on the rise from all sides.



Ironic, since the Family Research Council itself is a hate group, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Human Rights Campaign.
 
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Lukaris

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Well I really didn’t know who the family research council is but their research is cited elsewhere and not denied. Wisconsin Watch a liberal media group targeted in 2013 by the then GOP dominated WI legislature for defunding at WI State Univ accepts the research on these incidents.




A leading libertarian magazine has some concerns re the SPLC.

 
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essentialsaltes

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Well I really didn’t know who the family research council is but their research is cited elsewhere and not denied.
Maybe you and @FireDragon76 can discuss it in a thread about that. This thread has a topic: this specific firebomb attack in Plano.
 
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FireDragon76

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Not every crime at a church is a hate crime. My old Lutheran church had a case of vandalism, but all the evidence pointed to a disgruntled parishioner.

Attacks on UU churches, OTOH, are often motivated by hatred of their position on cultural or political issues, or their perceived liberalism. There was an armed attack on a UU church in Knoxville, Kentucky back in 2008, for instance, and the church was targeted because of its perceived liberalism.
 
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essentialsaltes

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Rather than open a new thread about Unitarian churches in Texas....

Police: Armed man threatened to kill people at Fort Worth church


This started mid-morning Wednesday, when police said someone called 911 to report a dead dog in Jefferson Unitarian Church’s community garden. Officers responded and found shell casings and a rifle near the deceased dog.

Later ... someone reported a man inside the church holding a shotgun and making threatening statements about killing people.

Officers found 26-year-old Roman Collins standing near a gun inside the church on Sandy Lane, south of Interstate 30. [And took him into custody. After a search (not clear if it's of him, a vehicle or his apartment):]
 

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essentialsaltes

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I guess he did have most of that on him. LINK

Roman Collins, the armed man who entered All People’s Church on Wednesday and made threatening statements on Wednesday, Aug. 23, has been attending All People’s Church for the past few months, according to the church’s press release.

Board President Dan Sexton said, “We believe this was not an attack on the church’s progressive values, but the actions of a lone disturbed individual. The Fort Worth Police Department does not consider this a hate crime.”

Around 4:15 p.m., right after the school closed and the church administrator was alone in the building, he heard a person walk in the back door and slip into the library. He went to see who had arrived, assuming it was someone early for Wednesday evening choir practice, the press release said. “That’s when he saw Collins standing just inside the doorway to the library,” the statement noted. “Collins was wearing a tactical vest, stuffed with ammunition, a holstered gun and a rifle lay beside him on the table. The administrator spoke calmly to Collins, who admitted he had killed the dog and that he planned further carnage.

“The administrator told Collins he had to put something in the office, then left the church through a side door and drove to a nearby church member’s house and dialed 911.”

The FWPD statement said upon entering the church, officers found Collins “standing near a firearm and immediately detained him.” When they searched him, “they found several weapons including a shotgun, a large fixed blade style knife, a handgun, several loaded magazines, medical equipment and a water canteen.”

When officers searched Collins’ truck, they found a rifle that had been converted to convert handgun magazines,
 
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essentialsaltes

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Not necessarily connected, but apparently anti-gay trolls entered the church and posted to YouTube.
Don't seem to be any updates to the arson investigation, but here's a little more detail on the video.

In the video, Alford, fellow YouTuber Cassady Campbell and another man film themselves visiting the Plano church. They ask the congregation about their beliefs while in their words, “pretending to be LGBTQ” with the goal of "testing" the church's theology and exposing "false teachers."

At the end of the video, which has been viewed more than 200,000 times, the men stand by the church sign and ask viewers to "pray for these people," calling the church "pagan and satanic."

In an email, Alford said, “First and foremost, my prayers go out to anyone effected by the fire. As to the accusations, My channel spreads the message of Jesus and his love for us."
 
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driewerf

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This is another tragedy and hatred is on the rise from all sides.


Is hate on the rise on all sides? From what I can see the alt-right is increasing in hate, but I don't see any other side.
 
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dzheremi

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What a disgusting, cowardly act. If you have a problem with another church, the answer is not to firebomb it or otherwise target it for attack. I mean, it's probably not out of line to speculate that whoever is doing these things to UU buildings is not likely to be able to carry on much of a conversation about theology, ecclesiology, etc. and the other things that the UUs are purposely 'liberal' about, that's still what should be done. HH St. Cyril addressed Nestorius directly, just as HH St. Athanasius had earlier in the conflict with Arius and his followers, etc. That's our model, not this "I don't like what your church stands for, so I'm going to physically destroy it." That's what the workers of iniquity do. Christians shouldn't be imitating them.
 
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FireDragon76

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There are some "ministries" I've seen on Youtube that are basically engaging in harassment or militant proselytism of the Unitarians, the Unity Church, and even sometimes Episcopalian or UCC churches. It seems like this sort of thing is increasing in recent years.
 
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