Love is the spirit of this church and service is its law.  This is our great covenant:  to dwell together in peace, to seek the truth in love, and to help one another.  -- James Vila Blake

Nice quote.  It's from the banner on the web site of a Knoxville church where a gunman walked into a performance of "Annie" last Tuesday and began shooting because of the church's liberal teachings.  The attacker believes "that all liberals should be killed because they [are] ruining the county."

Jim D. Adkisson is a 58 year old unemployed trucker on the verge of losing his food stamps.  Ironically, had he visited the church in peaceful anguish, he would have found a generous and tolerant welcome.  That's the way Unitarian churches are.  He would have been connected with a food pantry and free health clinic -- part of the church's ministry.  

The Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church is a friend and advocate for people like Jim Adkisson, people who are unemployed and oppressed.  They tutor kids after school, work to protect the environment and feed the homeless.  Sounds a lot like Matthew 25, doesn't it?  

It's a liberal church.  Since the 1950's, the "congregation has worked for desegregation, racial harmony, fair wages, women's rights and gay rights."  

My desk-side Merriam-Webster's defines liberal as "generous, bountiful, not literal, not narrow in opinion or judgment, tolerant."  The thesaurus lists synonyms:  "progressive, broadminded, unprejudiced, beneficent, charitable, openhanded, munificent, unstinting, lavish.  See Generous."  Sounds a lot like Jesus, doesn't it?

When did "liberal" become something to hate?  Police searching Adkisson's residence found some of the books that seemed to shape him.  Liberal is a Mental Health Disorder, by Michael Savage; Let Freedom Ring, by Sean Hannity; The O'Reilly Factor, by Bill O'Reilly.  

When Adkisson opened fire, one of those Unitarian Universalists stepped in front of the bullets to act as a shield to save the children.  Fellow church members said that Greg McKendry was a "man of large stature with a heart to match."  They are calling him a hero.  He was one of two who died.

Others rushed the gunman, disarmed him and held him for police.  They did not shoot him dead.  Unitarians don't believe in that.  Later, many of the members spoke empathetically of the gunman.  The president of the association of UU congregations said that "he must have lost the battle with his personal demons.  ...He must have been living in his own personal hell for years."

Watch as Adkisson comes to trial.  These Unitarians will urge the court not to seek the death penalty.  They don't believe in executing prisoners.  They will reach out to Adkisson with their traditional liberal generosity.  They will try to assist him with his healing.  

The Unitarians and other liberal churches will continue to advocate for better health care for mentally ill people like Jim Adkisson.  The free market hasn't found a way to make mental illness profitable, so millions still struggle untreated.  Prisons have become our nation's primary institution for the mentally ill.  Liberals think that's not good and would like us to take some corporate responsibility about that.  Most liberals think it is a failure of American vision when your right to purchase a gun at a pawn shop is more valued than your access to mental health care.

This crime was a reminder that there is a difference between ordinary criminal violence that targets an individual and violence that targets a group.  Hate crime is like terrorism.  It intends to send a message.  It hopes to harm a group.  A shudder went through every Unitarian Universalist congregation this week.

At a candlelight vigil this past Thursday night, our local UU congregation gave witness to their passionate spirit of love.  They asked for healing for all the traumatized, including Jim Adkisson.  They celebrated the courage that gives welcome and safety to gay and lesbian worshippers.  There was in their midst a spirit of liberality that felt Christ-like to me, especially when a lesbian daughter of a preacher put Gene McKendry's courageous act of sacrifice into context, reminding us:   "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."