Atheist Threatens Two Christian Women?

If this is accurate (and I can’t seem to find other references to the case), we should all be utterly disgusted.

A man is now facing charges of Felony Menacing after police say he threatened to cut off the heads of two women because they were Christians.

The encounter happened at 711 Tia Juana around three o’clock in the morning Friday. Police say Russell Bowman, who claims to be an atheist, had made the threat on September 8^th.

Police say Bowman made his way to the females’ apartment with a knife Friday. A local neighbor approached Bowman with a shotgun in the women’s defense, according to police reports. When Bowman refused to drop his weapon, the neighbor hit him with the butt-end of the shotgun. Bowman suffered serious injury to his eye and was transported to Memorial Hospital. Doctors determined the damage to the eye was so severe that it needed to be surgically removed.

The District Attorney’s Office will determine if any additional charges beyond Felony Menacing are appropriate for Bowman.

WTF was he trying to accomplish?

I’m not about to say this guy “isn’t the right type of atheist.” If he is an atheist, so it goes.

But if anyone tries to blame this crime on “atheism,” my friend Joe points out:

Atheists are just as ashamed of this guy as Christians are of abortion-clinic bombers.

On another note, who would name a street Tia Juana?

(Thanks to Ben for the link.)

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Alenônimo

I don’t think this story is accurate. I mean… there’s a shitload of christians out there. Why the heck an atheist would attack someone just for being christian? If so, why not just set up a bomb and explode a church?

This doesn’t make sense.
Gunnar Øyro

This should not come as a surprise. There are loonies in every group, and personally I am not more “ashamed” of this guy than any other criminal. Atheists do not have to take responsibility for actions by other atheists, any more than let’s say a smoker should for other smokers (or drivers, or right-handed etc)

On the other hand I would be disgusted if he called himself a Bright, or a humanist, but still he would be just another madman.
Aj

I’m not ashamed of this guy, he is not associated with me. There are plenty of atheists I don’t identify with at all, I don’t define myself through my lack of belief in other peoples gods.

I can empathize and support people who don’t want to believe other peoples bullshit but that’s as far as I go. I applaud the championing of reason and science, and this certainly isn’t the case here.

Am I the only one that thinks the phrase “like herding cats” is a compliment to atheists?
Yoo

That guy sounds seriously messed up, assuming the report is accurate. Is there by any chance that he was delusional? (Just can’t get my head to wrap around the notion that being Christian somehow deserves having one’s head cut off.)
mikespeir

Well, that clinches it. Behind the smiling facade of every atheist lurks a decapitator yearning to break free and do his thang!
Paul

Remember that this is a news article, and as such it reflects the editorial bias of the writer and the publication in which it appears. We can be sure that there is far more to this story than has been reported here. A rational person does not threaten a random individual just because they hold different views (whether it be an atheist attacking a believer, or the other way around). There is much more going on here than we have been told. Either the man is suffering from a mental illness, or the women were known to him, and there was a previous history of some kind between them.
cipher

If it is true, how many sermons will there be in fundie churches tomorrow morning regarding the depravity of atheists?

On the other hand, if a Christian behaves badly, he isn’t a True Christian™.
todd

Anyone other than me wondering why it says he “claims to be atheist”? I don’t think I’ve ever read that anyone “claims to be Christian” (right-wing nutjobs on Obama notwithstanding) or “claims to be Jewish”.
mikespeir

Anyone other than me wondering why it says he “claims to be atheist”?

Yeah, I noticed it. And you’re right. We all know what the author was trying to imply: There’s no such thing as a real atheist. We’re all secret believers, plugging our ears, and yelling “La, la, la, la!” against the voices in our heads.
Desert Son

Hemant wrote:

On another note, who would name a street Tia Juana?

As an aside, Tia Juana just means “Aunt Joan” in Spanish. The famous south-of-the-border town where kids go to get plastered (and often arrested) before they’re of legal age to do so in the U.S.?

Aunt Joan’s town.

Almost sounds like a sleepy place to visit, don’t it? 🙂

No kings,

Robert
Desert Son

Ok, did a quick bit of research. From wikipedia:

“KRDO (1240 AM) is a News/Talk radio station simulcasted KRDO-FM 105.5 and based in Colorado Springs, Colorado.”

“Throughout the day, KRDO carries syndicated talk show hosts Dave Ramsey and Dr. Laura Schlessinger, news commentator Paul Harvey, and Sporting News Radio.”

KRDO is owned by “News Press & Gazette Company (NPG)” which “is a media company based in St. Joseph, Missouri, wholly owned and operated by the Bradley family, and presided by David R. Bradley and Hank Bradley.”

Now, I’m unfamiliar with NPG, and the Bradley family. But I have heard of Dr. Laura Schlessinger, and Paul Harvey.

Not sure what the editorial bent of KRDO is, but if someone knows more, that might shed some light on their approach to story writing.

Regardless of religious belief or non-belief, the story should be Person A threatens Persons B and C and charges are filed, action pending. Stay tuned for further details, and don’t ask the news for how you should feel about it.

But, that’s a highly idealized view of the news, and it may be that, in the history of journalism, that sort of approach has never actually happened. Those with more experience in journalism would know better than I would.

No kings,

Robert
cipher

Of course, this, the NRA will tell us, is why Christians need to be armed. You never know when an atheist will attack.
PrimeNumbers

What if the story had said “Police say Russell Bowman, who claims to be a Jew, had made the threat on September 8th.” or “Police say Russell Bowman, who claims to be a Muslim, had made the threat on September 8th.” or “Police say Russell Bowman, who claims to be a polytheist, had made the threat on September 8th.”
travgav

this may have happened for some other reason and the press had to find some sort of headline.
The Ridger

For what it’s worth, the police report says the guy had left and was “walking away” when the neighbor showed up with the gun.
benjdm

For what it’s worth, the police report says the guy had left and was “walking away” when the neighbor showed up with the gun.

Could you provide a link or copy the police report?
David D.G.

PrimeNumbers wrote:

What if the story had said “Police say Russell Bowman, who claims to be a Jew, had made the threat on September 8th.” or “Police say Russell Bowman, who claims to be a Muslim, had made the threat on September 8th.” or “Police say Russell Bowman, who claims to be a polytheist, had made the threat on September 8th.”

Ordinarily, such a detail in a story about a straightforward assault case would be highly irrelevant and rightly viewed as inflammatory. However, since the man’s alleged stated motive in attacking the women was that they were Christian, his own religious stance is a relevant detail here, so it seems perfectly appropriate to report it (assuming all this is true, of course). The same would apply if he were a violent Jew, a violent Muslim, or a violent Hindu.

~David D.G.
L Kirk17

Well what happened was only one of the females were christian and the other was not. On Sept 8 he threatened the Christian and a few days later showed up at the door with a knife. He was not walking away when he was hit with the butt end of the shotgun, he was charging at the man with the shotgun pointed at him.