The church attended by the white man accused of murdering eight people in three massage stores in Atlanta, most of them women of Asian descent, condemned the shooting Friday, saying they were contrary to the gospel and doctrine of the church.
Crabapple First Baptist Church in Milton, Georgia, also announced in a statement that it plans to remove 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long from membership because it “can no longer confirm that he is truly a born-again believer in Jesus Christ” .
Earlier, the church had given only brief condolences, without mentioning Long. It also shut down its social media accounts and made its website private.
On Friday, it said those measures had been taken to protect the safety of its congregation members.
Congregants were “distraught” to learn that the alleged gunman was a member of the community, the statement said. His family has belonged to the Church for years.
“We saw Aaron grow up and accept him as a member of the Church as he made his own creed in Jesus Christ,” it read.
“These unthinkable and blatant murders directly contradict his own creed in Jesus and the gospel.”
Investigators are still trying to discover what led Long to commit the worst mass murder in the United States in nearly two years.
Police say he told them he was not racially motivated and claimed to have a “sex addiction,” and he apparently lashed out at what he saw as sources of seduction.
Those statements caused much uproar and skepticism given the locations and that six of the eight victims were women of Asian descent
Crabapple First Baptist said it would continue to mourn, mourn and pray for the families of the victims and deeply regrets “the anguish and pain Asian-Americans experience as a result of Aaron’s unforgivable actions.”
“The victims cannot be blamed,” said Crabapple First Baptist. “He alone is responsible for his evil deeds and desires.”
The Church also said it does not teach that acts of violence are acceptable against “certain ethnicities or against women” or that women are responsible for men’s sexual sin against them.
Murder, in particular, is a heinous, bad and serious sin. We also explicitly denounce any form of hatred or violence against Asians or Asian-Americans. “
Attacks against Asian Americans have increased across the country during the coronavirus pandemicThe virus was first identified in China, and former President Donald Trump and others have used racially-laden terms to describe it.
The Church said it cooperates with law enforcement and prays for “both earthly justice and divine justice.”
Tyler Bayless, who lived with Long at an addiction facility in Roswell, Georgia, for at least six months until early 2020, described him as “a little socially awkward but not distant or quiet.” Long asked him to pray for him at least a few times, Bayless said, but never imposed his faith on others.
“He had some interesting religious beliefs, I’m sure, but he was never very overtly pushy about things like that. As if he had never said, “I have to save your soul,” said Bayless.
Bayless recalled several times Long said he expired and went to a massage company, leading to extreme self-hatred, guilt, and public confession that he feared he would hurt himself. Long once asked him to hold a hunting knife, Bayless added.
‘He said,’ You know, I went to one of these places. I feel like I’m falling out of God’s grace, ” said Bayless.
“I mean, this was the kind of pain he was in because of what his religious beliefs led him to think about the actions he was doing.”
Bayless also said Long tried to limit his use of social media to avoid what he saw as sources of temptation to sin.
Joshua Grubbs, a professor of clinical psychology at Bowling Green State University in Ohio who has researched the intersection of sexual behavior, religion, and morality, said that especially in the United States, men with conservative religious backgrounds are “ open to interpretation ” little sexual behavior that violates their morals as an addiction. ”
But there is no evidence that that sexual behavior would predispose a person to violence against others, he said.
“The idea that ‘I have a sex addiction, I feel so bad about it, I’m going to kill eight people,’ ‘I’m just not buying it,” said Grubbs, who has also treated people with the problem. “It’s not true of my experience as a researcher or clinical psychologist.”
Grubbs advises religious leaders on discussing sex, pornography, and “uncontrolled sexual behavior” and does not recommend using language that can cause or exacerbate feelings of depression and shame.
“I have never encountered a religious leader who suggested” that a cure for the behavior is to “kill the people” who make it possible. “I’ve never heard that before. It’s an absurd premise. “
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