Was atheism a factor in the school shooting in Cleveland?

Question

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071011/ap_on_re_us/school_shooting
[Attacker Asa] Coon's troubles seemed to come to a breaking point this week. Students said Monday's fight was over God — Coon told his classmates he didn't believe in God and instead worshipped rocker Marilyn Manson.

Gilliegrrrl, the estimated death toll from atheistic communism is 94 million.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Book_of_Communism
Thus, the notion that atheism leads to violence has considerable evidence to support it.

Jett, would you mind editing your response and naming those five supposed Christian shooters? Thinking back on Columbine and Virginia Tech, the profile of these killers seems to be anti-Christian and anti-God.

Jett, your inability to note a single specific instance of school shootings by a Christian is noted. As the Columbine killers exemplified, such killers show a motivational profile that includes hatred of Christianity. Historically, Christianity has always provided a check on murderous impulses.

Answer 1

IMO, Bruce is clearly using this as a reaction to all the atheists that say "without Christianity there wouldn't be wars or violence," etc.

I see a lot of excuses in the non-Christians' responses. You are all just making yourselves look as foolish as you accuse others of being. It is clear that the fault lies with Human Nature and it is clear that in many cases Religion plays a role in subduing the evil tendencies of Human Nature.
Let's stop generalizing.

Answer 2

I don't think he was an atheist as he worshiped Marilyn Manson. Technically speaking, if you worship anything at all, you're not an atheist.

And, as for your book citation, the site you linked itself states that the author provides death tolls "Using unofficial estimates he cites a death toll which totals 94 million...." So your so called evidence is suspect.

However, true and accurate history recounts the hundreds of thousands of people that Christians murdered when ravaging throughout Europe wiping out the Celts among many other societies in the time of the Romans. That was just one brief moment in time, but a telling one. Christians have a long history of death and destruction to those who oppose them.

**Add**
You should be ashamed to use such a tragic and sad event to further your Christian posturing.

Answer 3

Sorry, if he worshiped a rocker than that would not quite fit atheism. I'd look at more obvious causal factors like the sentence after your quote:
"Coon had mental health problems, spent time in two juvenile facilities and threatened to commit suicide while in a mental health facility, according to juvenile court records obtained by The Plain Dealer newspaper."

It then goes on to detail an obviously troubled childhood.

Answer 4

When you get right down to it, he was likely delusional. The argument could have been exactly opposite - he strongly believed in God and fought with atheists over the issue - and I bet he could have convinced himself to go on a shooting-spree.
I realize this won't be a popular conclusion. But unfortunately, we've seen time and again that stated beliefs do not always stop someone from committing heinous acts.

Answer 5

I can name 5 Christian school shooters, including the latest deadliest school shooter in history, to every atheist one you could come up with.

No, this had to do with a mentally unstable kid.

EDIT: Hey Bruce, did you forget about a little thing called the dark ages. Killing by atheist countries, whether communist or not, rarely had to do with atheism. Rather, members of the Church, and the Church itself, were a plague on the world and killed hundreds upon hundreds of people over many centuries.

Answer 6

that, or the fact he was gothic and suicidal. that, or the fact he was white in a predominately black school.

how many black people are goths anyway?

that or the way he was treated. didnt he bump into someone coming out of the bathroom and was punched for it?

*shrug* people can only take so much before they snap. same as any animal.

for the record, the argument over god, and then it was said he was bullied and got in arguments with other kids often.

you would think that if he didnt believe in god then the argument over god would be his disbelief vs. their belief. and if they believed why were they picking on him in the first place? wouldnt that mean that religious played a factor in snapping this camels back? hmmmm....?

Answer 7

Get real. That article clearly stated that that boy was abused. Sometimes the abused mind is unstable. It was rather unfair to pin this on Atheism. Besides, you said yourself that he worshiped Manson, thats not Atheism the last time I checked.

Answer 8

SICK AMERICAN YOUTH CULTURE. Whatever his background or beliefs, this tortured and deranged child did not fall out of the sky. He was part of a youth culture that bullies, belittles, dismisses, and disenfranchises people who are eccentric or don't fit in with the cool crowd and school staff who are overworked and insufficiently trained, ignorant, blind, and callously indifferent to the needs of young people, especially vulnerable loners.

Answer 9

If you want to start comparing the number of people viciously murdered because of religion, you're gonna lose.

Just the supposed killings of god are staggering.

Then the amount of murders done in His name.

Plus. . i have yet to see anything that says he did it in the name of atheism.

Answer 10

Did you know that 100% of all murders are committed by either males or females?