this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2023
363 points (97.9% liked)

News

23274 readers
3046 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Investigators said they were able to stop the potential massacre at Park Valley Church in Haymarket thanks to someone who saw troubling posts on Instagram and called police

Authorities arrested a man who they say was minutes away from carrying out a mass shooting at a church in Northern Virginia on Sunday morning.

Rui Jiang, 35, was taken into custody with a loaded gun and extra ammo at Park Valley Church in Haymarket. Authorities said he was on a mission to kill.

“This was a thwarted diabolical plot to kill churchgoers in Haymarket, Virginia … and local law enforcement stopped it,” Chief Kevin Davis of the Fairfax County Police Department said.

“Minutes. Minutes. The congregation was making their way into the church. He was in the vestibule of the church about to enter,” Davis said. “So, minutes or seconds away.”

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Transcendant@lemmy.world 301 points 1 year ago (14 children)

“Quite frankly, we've just been thanking God. You know, God’s been so good to us, and he protected us,

Never fails to amaze me how someone can completely disregard the hard work and sacrifice of other human beings and instead praise an imaginary skyguy.

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 86 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Same imaginary skygod who put them in harms way to begin with. Never did understand.

[–] tburkhol@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago (3 children)

No, no: that's the other skyguy. We're like the kids in a bitter divorce, constantly bounced between a good parent and a bad parent, with no actual agency. Except to thank good skyguy, otherwise they might not protect us from bad skyguy next time.

Skyguy whims sometimes feel arbitrary and capricious, but there's divine or diabolical intent, which means it's way better than being lost to the randomness of chaotic but determinate natural forces. How terrifying would the world be if stuff just happened for no reason?

[–] jaybone@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago

I think you mean undergroundguy

[–] bobman@unilem.org 40 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Weird how they never thank god for the successful attacks.

[–] loutr@sh.itjust.works 23 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Exactly, if God prevented this attack, it means he wanted the successful ones to take place. He really works in mysterious ways...

[–] RogueBanana@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 year ago

Dramas get boring when nothing bad happens. Hes just making our lives a bit interesting and sometimes end it all.

[–] Meowoem@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 year ago

But also he would know for sure that heaven exists so the fact he saves some people should be seen as an insult, survive near death a few times? God really doesn't want to hang out with you

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

They didn't pray hard enough.

[–] Cold_Brew_Enema@lemmy.world 32 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yep I can't stand this. What about the little girl who dies of cancer? God didn't feel like protecting her?

Fuck off

[–] Saneless@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well, if he's consistent with his behavior in the Bible, it's not that he failed to protect her. He killed her himself

[–] Delusional@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

And if all those people were shot up, you can be damn sure they wouldn't be saying it's thanks to God. Mass of idiots.

[–] AstridWipenaugh@lemmy.world 32 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Man, I know a woman who got COVID bad and got a double lung transplant. Not a word about any of her doctors or other care staff that kept her alive while on a ventilator for 6 month. Not even a mention once. But it was constant "look at the power of prayer" and "thank the good lord for my recovery" and shit like that.

[–] CaptFeather@lemm.ee 16 points 1 year ago

Which is hilarious considering how many "good Christians" died for refusing the vaccine. Confirmation bias in action!

[–] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Even when I was a theist I still made a point of thanking doctors and nurses. Everyone can get credit.

[–] Tedesche@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

It's a mistake to dismiss religious people as stupid, but they really make it hard not to sometimes.

That's an odd way to spell "natural reflex", but it's close.

[–] Tedesche@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Because they're not stupid; or at least, that's not why they're religious. Sadly, religious indoctrination can affect even brilliant minds.

[–] Furbag@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

God, when he fails to prevent all the other mass shootings that happened in places of worship:

"Lol that was part of my plan, too."

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"That's not a plan! You're just a jerk!" -Jerry

[–] TechyDad@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I inka dinka binka bonka understood this reference.

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"Why does God's plan involve so many priests molesting alter boys?"

[–] vivadanang@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] mack7400@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

And what does God need with a starship?

[–] Nougat@kbin.social 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Cops should have just said, "Oh, it's at a church? God's got it handled," and went back to speed traps.

[–] ComradeChairmanKGB@lemmygrad.ml 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They let students handle it at schools

Protect and serve*.

*Some terms and conditions apply.

[–] greavous@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Operation student shield

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I mean, it is a church. I think it's stupid, but it's not like it's a car dealership. What do you think they're going to say?

[–] nulluser@programming.dev 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Repoter: So, the police arrested a gunman moments away from shooting up your dealership. What are your thoughts?

Dealer: It was wild. Absolutely crazy.... Almost as crazy as ThEse CraZy deAls We'vE GoT RigHt nOW. JUst cHeCk Out ThE PriCe oN ThiS '88 MaliBu. It'S CrAaaaZy!

[–] Transcendant@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago
[–] theyoyomaster@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In his actual statement he thanked the police and everyone involved. NBC Washington felt that only the snippet thanking God was worth reporting.

[–] Transcendant@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Thanks for clarifying

[–] cricket97@lemmy.world -2 points 1 year ago

They did thank everyone involved, the news didn't report on it. Hope you feel stupid for saying that.

[–] be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social -2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Police don't have a particularly good track record at prevention; they are rather famous for showing up after the crime has happened. I think giving crediting a higher power for the miracle that they proactively stopped a shooter before the shooting started kinda fits.

I also think it's reasonable that folks who believe in a deity that theoretically protects them would thank that deity when they feel protected. I somehow doubt the cops on scene lacked for any expression of thanks because everyone was too busy praying.

[–] gregorum@lemm.ee -3 points 1 year ago

Snips knew better than to praise Skyguy… eventually