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‘Thwarted diabolical plot': Man arrested minutes before mass shooting at Northern Virginia church, police say (www.nbcwashington.com)

submitted 1 year ago by MicroWave to c/news

106 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Investigators said they were able to stop the potential massacre at Park Valley Church in Haymarket thanks to someone who saw troubling posts on Instagram and called police

Authorities arrested a man who they say was minutes away from carrying out a mass shooting at a church in Northern Virginia on Sunday morning.

Rui Jiang, 35, was taken into custody with a loaded gun and extra ammo at Park Valley Church in Haymarket. Authorities said he was on a mission to kill.

“This was a thwarted diabolical plot to kill churchgoers in Haymarket, Virginia … and local law enforcement stopped it,” Chief Kevin Davis of the Fairfax County Police Department said.

“Minutes. Minutes. The congregation was making their way into the church. He was in the vestibule of the church about to enter,” Davis said. “So, minutes or seconds away.”

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[–] sailingbythelee 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You're right. Believing in the literal existence of any god or supernatural entity obviously doesn't imply that the believer is a moron in a general intellectual sense. There are plenty of highly skilled and academically-inclined religious people, including scientists. However, such beliefs do reflect an inability or stubborn unwillingness to align with a scientific worldview, which in turn suggests some form of psychological weakness. I mean, honestly, what would you think of someone who believes in the literal existence of fairies, ghosts, and invisible dragons and organized their world view around those beliefs? You may not actively dislike or discriminate against such people, but you would wonder at their psychological constitution and susceptibility to delusion. And surely you would be worried if they became a majority and started voting for politicians whose goal is to align your society with their invisible magic dragon worship. It's just so...utterly ridiculous. That's why atheists use the shorthand moniker "moron" when referring to religious people. We don't mean that religious people are literally intellectually incapable, just that they hold an inexplicably stupid and inconsistent worldview. The negativity component doesn't apply to the fairy-believers and dragon-worshippers because they are an unthreatening fringe. Christians and Muslims, however, are large, dangerous, and politically influential groups who have shown a tendency towards forcing their views on others. And a majority of Christians, especially the most vocal ones, do vote for Trump. I don't hate all individual Christians or Muslims, who can be perfectly nice people, but I really do hate public and especially political religious expression.

[–] ki77erb 2 points 1 year ago

I can definitely agree with you that many religious people attempt to force their beliefs on others. Many also use faith for monetary gain or power. It's a serious problem.