The man accused of assassinating the top Democrat in the Minnesota House held deeply religious and politically conservative views, telling a congregation in Africa two years ago that the U.S. was in a “bad place” where most churches didn’t oppose abortion.

The man accused of assassinating the top Democrat in the Minnesota House held deeply religious and politically conservative views, telling a congregation in Africa two years ago that the U.S. was in a “bad place” where most churches didn’t oppose abortion.

Vance Luther Boelter, 57, was at the center of a massive multistate manhunt on Sunday, a day after authorities say he impersonated a police officer and gunned down former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home outside Minneapolis. Democratic Gov. Tim Walz described the shooting as “a politically motivated assassination.”

Sen. John Hoffman, also a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, were shot earlier by the same gunman at their home nearby but survived.

Friends and former colleagues interviewed by The Associated Press described Boelter as a devout Christian who attended an evangelical church and went to campaign rallies for Donald Trump. Records show Boelter registered to vote as a Republican while living in Oklahoma in 2004 before moving to Minnesota where voters don’t list party affiliation.

  • PunkRockSportsFan@fanaticus.socialEnglish
    602·
    14 hours ago

    Religious people are all mentally ill.

    This is what happens when they are armed.

    Religious people are dangerous and are all ticking time bombs ready to “punish” people who aren’t afflicted with the identical mental illness.

    • reddig33@lemmy.worldEnglish
      31·
      14 hours ago

      What worsens it are the grifters who aren’t really religious, but feed these people’s beliefs to rise to power and/or steal their money.

    • AlexLost@lemm.ee
      172·
      14 hours ago

      They are not mentally unwell, they are criminally undereducated or even miseducated. To not have a mandatory national school curriculum, hell even a state curriculum should be a way bigger talking point. It would be too, but you know, education…

        • iltoroargento@lemmy.sdf.org
          8·
          12 hours ago

          The Venn Diagram is basically a circle. I’d say all of these wanna be badass guys worship the same underlying psychological flaw. Comes in a lot of different flavors but there’s usually some serious psychosis going on with the “lone” wolf gunmen.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
      104·
      14 hours ago

      Religious people are all mentally ill.

      I wouldn’t say they are for all religions…

      But definitely the “true believers” of the Abrahamic religions, like if you read any of those texts and are 100% onboard its all real. Abraham was a schizophrenic who heard voices that told him to kill his son, had textbook visual and auditory hallucinations and obviously delusions of grandeur. It’s so fundamental it’s present in all the big branches, schizophrenic symptoms are viewed as a legitimate communication with God that are often commands that must be followed no matter what.

      So some well adjusted people see it as “just a story” but if you sit thru that indoctrination your whole life and start hearing voices, there’s a good chance you see the voices as religious instructions.

      • PunkRockSportsFan@fanaticus.socialEnglish
        18·
        14 hours ago

        It’s not just a story.

        American women have fewer rights than their mothers.

        This has never happened in America before.

        This is the rest of us held hostag by mentally ill, violent people.

        • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
          161·
          14 hours ago

          This has never happened in America before.

          Yes it has…

          If you think this is the first time a movement of Christians has stripped rights away thru a political movement, it makes me think you’re not aware of how long this fight has been going on.

          Like, from the first colonies, expansion into new colonies, the revolution, the civil war…

          At almost every major turning point of our country’s history, fighting off Christian extremists has been one of the few constants. They spent a couple decades working behind the scenes with both parties, but just because it was less visible for a while doesn’t mean it stopped and especially doesn’t erase our past.

          Like…

          You’re not wrong that it’s bad now, and I’m glad you realize that.

          But people need to understand history to understand how to fight today.

            • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
              2·
              3 hours ago

              You realize women could hold bank accounts in America for most of the countries existence…

              Right?

              Then they weren’t, and then in the 1970s they were allowed again.

              Same goes for owning land.

              But if you want someone to explain stuff, you might want to ask nicely, it sounds like you want an argument. I don’t have time for that.

                • AlexanderTheDead@lemmy.world
                  3·
                  2 hours ago

                  TIL about Robert’s Rules

                  Point of order: why do you think other people know about Robert’s Rules? I would guess most do not.

                  • PunkRockSportsFan@fanaticus.socialEnglish
                    11·
                    2 hours ago

                    The chair acknowledges Alexander the dead

                    It’s a commonly used standardized way to hold parliamentary / meeting/ round table discussions where the goal is to move the group agenda forward and not descend into chaos.

                    It’s been around almost 200 years, forgive my assumption that it was widely known here.

                    I yield my remaining time.