Suspect in Muslim Students’ Murders Called Chronically Upset and Confrontational
People who knew the man accused of gunning down three Muslim American students in North Carolina -- an act many suspect to be a hate crime motivated by cultural differences -- describe him as angry and lacking compassion.
Craig Stephen Hicks was charged with three counts of murder early Wednesday. (AP/Durham County Sheriff’s Office)
People who knew the man accused of gunning down three Muslim American students in North Carolina this week — an act many suspect to be a hate crime motivated by cultural differences — describe him as angry and lacking compassion.
Craig Stephen Hicks reportedly often fumed over his failure to get the parking spot he desired in the lot at his apartment complex.
AP reports:
Charged with three counts of first-degree murder is Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, who has described himself as a “gun toting” atheist. Neighbors said Wednesday that he always seemed angry and confrontational. His ex-wife said he was obsessed with the shooting-rampage movie “Falling Down” and showed “no compassion at all” for other people.
… A Second Amendment rights advocate with a concealed weapons permit, Hicks often complained about organized religion on Facebook. “Some call me a gun toting Liberal, others call me an open-minded Conservative,” Hicks wrote.
“Anytime that I saw him or saw interaction with him or friends or anyone in the parking lot or myself, he was angry,” [neighbor] Samantha Maness said. “He was very angry, anytime I saw him.”
Read more here.
— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.
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Americans’ discomfort with other peoples' religious faiths goes hand in hand with Islamophobia. Americans’ discomfort with other peoples' religious faiths goes hand in hand with Islamophobia.
"The majority of Americans identify technically as Christians,” writes Amanda Marcotte at AlterNet, “but a deeper look at how our people act, believe, and think shows that we’re not at all a ‘Christian nation,’ but a largely secular nation that suffers a small but vocal minority of theocracy-minded conservatives.”
Primatologist Frans de Waal pays religion the ultimate atheist compliment: Religion is so great that we humans acquired it through the natural process of evolution.Primatologist Frans de Waal pays religion the ultimate atheist compliment in his book: Religion is so great that we humans acquired it through the natural process of evolution.
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