The news media is full of reports about a church shooting in Tennessee, but it should be noted it took place in a Unitarian Universalist church which, like most UU churches, was really just a place for religious humanists. MSNBC reports on the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church:

The gunman’s motive is not yet known. The church, like many other Unitarian Universalist churches, promotes progressive social work, such as desegregation and fighting for the rights of women and gays. The Knoxville congregation has provided sanctuary for political refugees, fed the homeless and founded a chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, according to its Web site.

Kemper said the gunman shouted before he opened fire.

“It was hateful words. He was saying hateful things,” she said, but refused to elaborate.

The man arrested is 58-year old Jim Adkisson. And now new details are emerging that suggest possible motives. A local TV station reports:

A neighbor told 10News Adkisson described himself as a “Confederate” and a “believer in the old South.” She says Adkisson self-identified in this way to her on more than one occasion, but that she didn’t know what he meant by it.

It will be interesting to see if more information corroborates that. I don’t want to place this firmly inside a simple narrative so soon, but it sounds as though we may have a neo-confederate who decided to get back at those liberal queers he hates so much. Time will tell if that conclusion is justified. At least two people died in the attack and many more were wounded.