Reports noted that Devin Patrick Kelley, 26, dressed in combat gear and body armor, entered the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs and began shooting people with an AR-15 style rifle.
Associates and former classmates describe Kelley as “creepy,” “crazy” and “weird,” with one saying he was the first atheist he ever knew.
“He had a kid or two, fairly normal, but kinda quiet and lately seemed depressed,” said Patrick Boyce, who attended New Braunfels High School with Kelley.
“He was the first atheist I met. He went Air Force after high school, got discharged but I don’t know why,” he added. Turns out the Air Force busted Kelly down to an E-1 for assaulting his wife and a child. He was court-martialed in 2012 and discharged in 2014, the U.K.’s Daily Mail reported.
Nina Rose Nava, who went to school with the gunman, wrote on Facebook: “In (sic) in complete shock! I legit just deleted him off my fb cause I couldn't stand his post. He was always talking about how people who believe in God we're stupid and trying to preach his atheism.”
“He was weird but never that damn weird, always posting his atheist sh** like Nina wrote,” added Michael Goff, a friend.
Another female classmate who moved away from the small Texas community said of Kelly, “I grew up going to school with him... Always creeped me out and was different.” (Related: Top ten questions all intelligent people must ask following the Texas church mass shooting.)
As to his personal beliefs, Kelley appeared to lean politically to the Left. Heavy.com reported that on a LinkedIn page, Kelley said he cared about civil rights, animal welfare, arts, “social action,” human rights and children — though the people he murdered ranged in age from 5 to 72, with many of the victims being young children.
On his now-deleted Facebook page, Kelley “liked” a number of anti-religious pages including “Friendly Atheist,” “Atheist,” “Atheist Republic,” and “Atheism.” But he also liked “CNN,” most likely because, like other “mainstream media” outlets, the network has a particular anti-Christian bias.
https://twitter.com/DaveNYviii/status/927325752361709569
According to Katherine Dempsey, writing for the Christian Post in September 2013, research indicated a strong anti-Christian bias in most major media outlets, networks and newspapers, but that it had been ongoing for some time:
Media bias against Christians is not new. A study published in the Journal of Media and Religion points to partiality between 1980 and 2000 against certain Christians by examining how nightly television network news broadcasts reported on "fundamentalist" Christians. The study found that fundamentalists were reported in a "consistent, mildly negative manner.”
In particular, CNN has been guilty of portraying Christians in a negative light. As reported by Accuracy in Media, a group that monitors media bias, the network has called Christian legal organizations “anti-gay” because they stand up for the religious freedom rights of Christian organizations and institutes whose beliefs do not include support for homosexuality or gay marriage.
“The labels often used by the Left and liberal media portray Christians and Christian organizations as anti-transgender, or as in this case, ‘anti-gay’ for following their religious convictions,” AIM noted in July.
And in 2012, CNN/ABC television journalist Christiane Amanpour was exposed for her anti-Jewish, anti-Christian bias as well, describing them as “extremists” but failing to use the same term to describe Muslims, even those who had been radicalized. In fact, the Jewish Press noted, “Amanpour equated the Jewish and Christian fundamentalists with the fundamentalist Jihadi Muslims.”
Why does this potential media connection matter? Because an anti-Christian-biased media, which Kelley apparently followed, could have influenced his decision to open fire in a Christian church rather than someplace else.
J. D. Heyes is the editor-in-chief of The National Sentinel.
Sources include:
Please contact us for more information.
