What are the religious views of mass public shooters?
A recent study conducted by the Crime Prevention Research Center looks at possible links between religion and violence.
[J]ust over 20 years from the beginning of January 1998 through today, there have been 69 killers committing 66 mass public shootings in the US where at least four people have been killed. Of those attacks, four have been identified as Christians, with just three clearly regular churchgoers…
Muslims make up a slightly disproportionately large share of these attacks. Even though they make up less than one percent of the US population, they account for 8.7% of these killers (6 in total) and more than the number of Christians.
Other killers who are explicitly identified only as “anti-Christian” are about as common as Christians, with three such killers. One of those killers was the 2015 Oregon Community College massacre where the killer shot those who reportedly told him that they were Christian.
While I applaud the work that went into this study, it’s hard for me to believe that any authentic Christian would engage in murder. The term “Christian" has become a check-box default categorical claim in our society, its use propagated by people who don’t understand true belief and the sovereign power of the Holy Spirit. I suspect that people are being lumped into that category without that person ever having personally accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
There are certainly no biblical commands authorizing murder. In fact, murder is strictly prohibited by God (Ex.20:13).
While every true Christian is, and always will be, a sinner, the presence of the Holy Spirit in their life ensures the remission of sin along with having absolute power over any and all demonic activity (Acts 2:38). There is plenty of supportive context for these biblical facts.
/fl