Rev. C. Scot Giles, D.Min., LLC

Written on July 27, 2008

I feel a need to comment on today's tragic shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, a congregation of my own denomination.

Apparently an emotionally disturbed man entered the building today during a children's worship service. Without warning, he opened fire on the congregation with a shotgun, killing at least two people and wounding many others.

Church members eventually subdued him, apparently led by one member of the congregation who was trained in martial arts and was able to pin the gunman to the floor.

Details will no doubt emerge over the next few days. For now, I ask your prayers for the members and children of the Tennessee Valley Congregation, for its minister, the Rev. Chris Buice, and for the gunman Jim Adkisson.

We live in an immensely troubled world, and there are no easy solutions to many of the problems we face. Had Mr. Adkisson not had access to a shotgun he could just as easily used some other weapon such as a bottle of gasoline. There is no meaningful way to stop someone who wants to kill other people for no rational reason.

I hope the months ahead will result in sober reflection about what is happening to us as a society where people reach the decision to commit mayhem like this.

I hope we will reflect on the need for more comprehensive treatment of mental illness, and find some way to reach out to the troubled people in our midst.

I hope we will reflect on what has happened to us where we think it is normal to show horrible violence as a form of entertainment, and where we give the youngest among us access to games where they pretend to murder others in order to score points.

I hope we will stand in support of citizens who will risk their lives to subdue an armed attacker. We should be proud to have such people among us.

I hope we can find in our own hearts the compassion to think on these things for a while before turning our attention to other things.