Update [2008-7-28 11:48:36 by Steven D]: According to Knoxville police, the shooter at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church wrote a 4 page letter in which he blamed the “liberal movement” for his problems and which stated he targeted the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church because of recent publicity the church had received about its liberal stance on issues. Other reports indicate that he also choose to attack the church because of its support for gays.

SECOND Update [2008-7-28 12:49:44 by Steven D]: Wanker Glenn Reynolds spins story as an anti-Christian attack, conveniently omitting the facts that the shooter hated liberals and gays, described himself as a “Confederate” and a “believer in the Old South”, and choose the church for his shooting spree based on its “liberal stance.”

(Original story text below the fold)

One in Istanbul, Turkey has been clearly labeled as a terror attack:

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Thirteen people died and up to 100 were wounded on Sunday when two bombs exploded in a busy shopping district in Istanbul, officials said.

“It is certain that this is a terror attack,” city governor Muammer Guler told reporters at the scene.

And the other one, a shooting in Knoxville Tennessee at a Unitarian Universalist Church, no one has yet called a terrorist attack, but it sure sounds like one to me:

A gunman opened fire at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church this morning, shooting eight people with a shotgun, killing two, according to police sources. […]

Church member Greg McKendry, 60, was shot and killed when he confronted the gunman during a children’s presentation of the musical, “Annie Jr!” […]

Asked about the children who were performing, Owen said the shooting was “in sight of them and all the people shot were in the line of fire.”

McKendry’s foster son Taylor was a member of the cast, getting ready to take the stage and said the shooter was carrying a guitar case. […]

Kemper said the gunman walked into the side of the sanctuary after firing one shot from a hallway.

She said the gunman was yelling “hateful things” and was wearing a red, white and blue T-shirt.

The shooter wore a red, white and blue t-shirt? Why would anyone wear a shirt with colors clearly associated with patriotic feelings and devotion to America, and then walk into a known “liberal” church and open fire with a shotgun on innocent people, including children, unless they were trying to make a political statement through the commission of a terrorist act? If this occurred in a Middle Eastern country it would be called what it clearly is — terrorism. Just as the burnings of black churches, and the desecration of Jewish Synagogues are also terrorist acts. Just as Eric Rudolph’s bombings of abortion clinics and a gay nightclub were terrorist acts.

But you and I know that this shooting at a Unitarian church won’t be labeled an act of terrorism. Funny how that works, isn’t it?

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