Yah, just what we needed

[elfs]

Prosecutors say a man, accused of stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death and dismembering her body, may have done it partly due to his belief in the Wiccan religion.

Apparently, the reporter can't be bothered to get his religious terminology correct, misspelling "rede".

Prosecutor: Religious belief may have sparked brutal murder

Comments

[mouser.livejournal.com]

Just.... GRRRRRRRR!!!!

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[omahas.livejournal.com]

I'm very happy to see that the comments universally condemn the guy while noting how wrong it is to blame a religion, any religion, when a person simply uses a religion (often wrongly) to justify their actions.

[memegarden.livejournal.com]

Can you imagine a headline saying that someone murdered somebody due to his Christian religion?

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

There was one fairly high-profile one in KS just recently--that clinic doctor who was murdered while working as an usher in his church.

[memegarden.livejournal.com]

But did the article spin it as murder-due-to-Christianity? I doubt it. Christians who murder are treated as bizarre aberrations, or cultists perhaps if their form of Christianity is far out of the mainstream. Pagans who murder are often treated as though their interpretation is representative.

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there was at least one claiming it was because he was a good Xtian. He certainly claimed he was being a "good Xtian".

[dv-girl.livejournal.com]

Of course not. It's so common it's not even noteworthy.

Of course, the core of the dispute isn't even religious in nature, it's about possessive heterosexual behavior. His mindless gibbering is interchangeable with thousands of assaults and murders which cite the bible, koran, etc. Women are property.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes I can. Has probably happened somewhere, just not in the more crazy parts of the world... at least it wouldn't be reorted like that there is what I mean.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_candide_/]

Lovely. Just what we need: another Dominionist in public office blaming one individual's psychosis on a religion that he refuses to acknowledge is a religion.