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School Shooting, mixed God messages

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prayreynolds [5]Faith News Note
Guest contributor.

The Oregon school shooting revels the complexity of faith in our culture as many sides invoked God in the ordeal.   This month, a student at Reynolds High School fired upon fellow students and killed one student and wounded a teacher. Police search of the shooters home revealed that he had a journal where he spoke about his plan to kill “sinners”.   The shooter was a member of a local church. The shooter’s father defended the values of his family and faith with a public statement [6] that read,”We are finding it very difficult to put into words our state of mind and emotions. We are at a loss as to how and why this tragedy unfolded. Our family does not condone and has never promoted violence or hatred toward anyone. The values that we have taught our children are love in Jesus Christ, compassion, forgiveness, and patience.”

Fellow students who knew the shooter spoke about his erratic and distant behavior.

In response to the shooting, Portland Mayor Charlie Hales, said during a vigil, “This is not God’s will. This is not a natural disaster. This is the consequence of laws that are out of balance.”

Students have been working on a “Pray for Reynolds” vigil that was held at the school soccer field. Students raised funds by selling 200 t-shirts that read “Pray for Reynolds”. Supporters have used Twitter hashtags #PrayForReynolds [7] and #PrayForReynoldsHS to allow people to send their condolences.