Both heartbreaking and tragic in the minds of any person with a heart. Big difference.. They couldn't make any political hay and promote the climate of fear for the purpose of encouraging the spineless to hand over their few remaining liberties from the Parker's murder. Nor does showing pity over the murder of an RSO and an innocent bystander promote their agenda against RSOs. That kind of crime might get the good ol' people of 'Merica feeling down right plucky, or worse, cause the genuinely good people to wake up.. so we'll keep that on the down low. I read somewhere that over 400 RSOs have been murdered and some thousands assaulted since the registries began going public. (if any of the excellent researchers here know the source on that last statement please chime in)

Good people are rightly outraged by this multiple murder of these church members. Therefore, the politicians with the help of the their lackeys in the media will naturally "Never Let a Good Crisis go to Waste". Your right Sloan they will beat this to death and the same themes with the subtext of surrender will ring throughout.

Our hearts go out o the families of all of these people.

You put it well Marty. And It's the shameful truth. I hope the majority of people in this country wake up soon.

Marty..here is a link to the amount of registrants murdered since the registry began.

http://truths-authority-factoids.blogspot.com/2013/01/sex-offender-laws-collateral.html

Sloan... your link is only up to 2012. I've lived in SC 4 years next month and since living here I've seen 5 RSO murders within a 2 hour drive of me.

Here is link that lists current information... Very factual... (Sorry but it's individual articles... Haven't seen any charts, etc...)

http://tinyurl.com/qcqey78

Hatred breeds hatred. The only way a young person learns to be a racist is by learning it from an older racist, whether in person, on the Internet or by being taught from reading. It is not guns, even though the press will jump all over that. It isn't the flag (it's actually very close to a battle flag and was inspired by the design of the British Union Jack).

Far more important than any the above, is the response of the families in court today for the initial bond hearing. They openly forgave this young man. To me, that is the true living of faith, to actually say to this man, "we love you and we forgive you." There are those that would not forgive the murderer, calling it an "unforgivable crime." Many of those people consider any XSO unforgiveable. I sure hope their hearts grow from this experience, but I do not expect.

Thanks Free. Could not locate. I knew there had to be a updated one somewhere out there.

Yes Brain, I found how important forgiveness is. Forgiveness is not about releasing someone from accountability for his actions. It is about us letting go of our anger and resentment.

I couldn't have said it better Brain.

Sloan - you are absolutely correct. The forgiven need to be accountable for their actions. That is what justice is about. Forgiveness is about rebuilding community, and the forgiven are part of that community. You are right that it is about letting go of our anger and resentment.

However, today many people equate justice with revenge and never let go. That is on them. The only way they will change is if they choose to change. (The same can be said about XSO's - the only way XSO's will succeed is when they choose to change their lives. Sadly, many people believe that XSO's are incapable of change.)

Sorry for the late response guys. Thanks very much for the links.

Brain you made me think again about the power of forgiveness. I often repeat this because I see it is absolutely true. Only love can conquer hate.

I had a friend in prison who had been a successful defense attorney. While taking his young son for ice cream he killed another affluent man on a bicycle due to factors including driving into the sun, fumbling his cell phone while trying to take a call he should have ignored, and having had a couple of beers earlier that day (thus prison). All ingredients of a perfect storm that culminated at exactly the wrong time. He had never been a humble man before this, in fact by his own account he was quite arrogant. But when the elderly father of the man who was killed came up after his sentencing and hugged him saying I forgive you, He broke.

I believe that moment changed the trajectory of many lives, including my friends in an incredibly positive way just as the accident months before had done in an extraordinarily negative way. We all must strive for love. Perfect love drives out fear. We all know our RSO difficulties, as most in our world, are driven by fear.

I've also seen this as true and say it often as well. Many people fear what they don't understand and many choose not to understand what they fear. This is precisely the reason ignorance drives chaos. Don't loose hope however. Everyone has a chink in their defensive armor. Our weapon must be the knowledge of the truth delivered with as much love as we can muster in a way that speaks to the hearts and minds of individuals. There will be many we will not reach, but let them wage their private war of self righteous piety with God not you.

Keep feeling, loving, thinking, writing and sharing what you learn. This thing called the registry will crash one day and be crushed under the weight of it's own hate and stupidity.