Unitarians struggle with church shooting

BOSTON, July 30 (UPI) -- Unitarians across the country are trying to cope with the shootings at a church in Tennessee by a man allegedly upset by the group's liberal views.

The Unitarian Universalist Association, which has headquarters in Boston, is known for its long support of gay rights. Unitarians, descended from the Puritan Congregational Church of the 17th century, don't believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ, although they consider him a great moral teacher.

Jim David Adkisson, 58, an unemployed man, has been charged with the shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church that left two people dead. Police say they found a four-page letter in his car that described a hatred of liberals.

The Rev. Kristen Harper, minister of a church in Barnstable, Mass., said that she is left wondering why Adkisson chose a Unitarian church and why he chose a time when the church was full of children who were doing a performance of "Annie."

"Even though he's crazy, you still wonder, why a liberal church, and how does shooting up liberals make sense?" she told The Boston Globe. "For people to use violence against us, it's really sad."