Mass Murderer Houser, Equally Yoked Teaching, Sexism Condoned and Advocated by Some Christians
Several news stories about the gunman who shot up several people in a Louisiana movie theater recently mention a few facts about the guy: he loathed women, wanted women’s roles limited in churches, didn’t feel that women should have jobs, and he seemingly was a Christian.
Further, Houser agreed with and supported Westboro Baptist Church, which I realize, is not much of a church.
I have not so far seen a clear statement that Houser accepted Jesus as his Savior or considered himself a Christian, but based upon his affinity for Westboro, Judeo-Christian values, and his stated belief that women should be limited in churches, I will go out on a limb here and assume this guy considered himself to be a Christian.
Christians like to get hung up and quibble over things. They’d like to argue that someone like Houser was not possibly a real Christian. Maybe and maybe not, but, really, how is a Christian woman supposed to tell if a self-professing Christian man is a “real” one or not?
If the Christian man in question professes Christ and more or less shows outward appearances of being what a Christian is, how could such a woman be expected to know that some where down the road, if she marries the guy, that he will go nuts with hatred towards women or whatever, take a gun to a movie theater and kill several people? You can’t really know this sort of thing.
I was at a site over a year ago – and I think I mentioned this here on my blog – where there was this testimony from this devout Christian woman who found out after twenty some odd years of marriage that her regular, church-attending, Jesus professing husband was a pedophile! He was looking at child porn regularly, and I think he was arrested for molesting children, if I recall correctly.
I don’t want to spend a lot of time on this next point, but Christian GC (gender complementarianism) is very enticing to abusive men, as it gives them a cover and excuse to mistreat their wives and harbor sexist ideals and practices towards women.
This Houser guy is on record for saying he thinks women should not be permitted to work outside the home, and that women should be limited in church. Both views are also very prevalent among other Christian GCs, though some may be fine with women holding “secular” (outside the home) employment.
One flaw of GC is that those who adhere to it cannot agree on its practice or scope. They agree that women should be kept with boots on their throats by men (they refer to this with the sugar coated term “servant leadership”), but they cannot agree on precisely how and where and when this should be carried out.
Here are several news articles which mention all these issues in regards to Houser.
After reading all the following, tell me, what sense or justification for “equally yoked” is there?
And why should Christian women risk marrying Christian men, many of whom buy into GC, which Houser did as well, and it fueled his mistrust of, and hatred of, women?
Please also note that this Houser person was married at one time. His wife finally divorced him because he was violent. (I think Houser was also a father.)
I have to point out his marital status, because Christians say that marriage (and parenthood) matures a person and makes him more godly and responsible.
Obviously this is a big, fat lie and is not biblical, one reason of several is that I keep seeing news story after news story of Christian husbands who murder people, beat their wives, molest kids, use porn, and do other horrible things.
If marriage and parenthood purify people and make them godly, we would not see so many stories of Christian (or Non Christian) husbands who commit sins against other people or against their wives and children. But we do see such stories and see them regularly.
Being a “family man” and in a “nuclear family” did not prevent this Houser guy from hating women and shooting and killing people.
(Link): Lafayette Gunman Had History of Domestic Violence, Issues With Women
(Link): Lafayette gunman who killed two women during ‘Trainwreck’ aired radical anti-feminist views on local TV by Travis Gettys
- The gunman who killed two women and wounded nine other moviegoers in Louisiana had a long history of anger and violence toward women.
- John Russell Houser, who fatally shot himself after police thwarted his apparent escape plans, appeared at least a dozen times on a television talk show in the 1990s, where he would (Link): make outrageous comments against women and feminism.
- “Whatever he wanted to talk about, it would generate calls,” (Link): said Calvin Floyd, who hosted WLTZ-TV’s “Rise & Shine” program. “He was anti-abortion. The best I can recall, Rusty had an issue with feminine rights. He was opposed to women having a say in anything. You could talk with him a few minutes, and you would know he had a high IQ but there was a lot missing with him.”
- The 59-year-old Houser fired off 13 rounds, pausing to reload, during a screening Thursday evening of “Trainwreck,” a comedy starring Amy Schumer that has been variously praised and criticized for its feminist themes about sexuality.
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The gunman, who went by Rusty Houser, was estranged from his wife and daughter.
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His wife, Kellie Houser, filed for divorce in March, about seven years after taking out a temporary protective order against her husband — who she said suffered from a variety of mental health issues.
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“Sometimes he forgets to take his medication and sometimes he forgets to eat, which affects his behavior as well,” (Link): his wife told police.
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Kellie Houser said she called police on her husband in April 2008 after he became angry at his daughter for marrying “so young” and told her the wedding would not take place, although she said he did not make any specific threats.
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Police said Houser, who was evicted from his home in March, had been previously married.
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Floyd said he was not surprised when Houser, who argued against women in the workplace and advocated violence against abortion providers, was identified as the gunman.
(Link): Louisiana gunman’s rage dates back decades
- The host, Calvin Floyd, said Houser had radical opinions that included advocating violence against abortion providers, keeping women out of the workplace and fearing a military takeover of civilian government.
- …The church-going son of a longtime city tax official, Houser received an accounting degree in 1988. Despite later problems, records do not indicate he was ever suspended or expelled, said a school statement.
- Houser posted on an online career website that he was an entrepreneur who owned and operated two nightclubs in Georgia in the 1980s and 1990s. But his stint as a club operator ended when he was accused of selling alcohol to minors at Rusty’s Buckhead Pub in LaGrange.
- …But CBS News correspondent Jeff Pegues reported the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremists, has said it uncovered writings where Houser praised Adolf Hitler for “accomplishing far more than any other” and described America as a “failing filth farm.”
- .. He [Floyd, radio host of WLTZ-TV’s “Rise & Shine” program] described Houser, who posted an article on Facebook about limiting women’s participation in church, as an angry and radical person.“He was on from time to time because he was a very radical person with radical views,” Floyd said. “He was a Republican and then I would have someone with a real strong Democrat view on.”
(Link): Gunman in theater shooting had history of seeking vengeance
Excerpts
- By CLAIRE GALOFARO, MELINDA DESLATTE and KIM CHANDLER
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… Houser, a mentally ill 59-year-old, terrified his own family and ranted in online forums about African-Americans, Jews and gays. He had lost his wife and his house and left behind a paper trail documenting a long history of seeking vengeance.
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Five days after the chance meeting at the bistro, Houser walked into the theater, bought a ticket to the 7 p.m. showing of “Trainwreck” and picked a seat two rows from the back. Twenty minutes into the movie, he stood up in the darkness and, according to those who knew him, let loose a lifetime’s reserve of rage.
- …Houser, who went by Rusty, was known as odd and eccentric in the cluster of towns near the state line between Georgia and Alabama where he lived nearly all his life.
Neighbors said he filled his in-ground pool with hundreds of koi. He flew a Confederate flag, passed doomsday fliers around his neighborhood, pounded out angry online missives about corruption and injustice and spouted admiration for Adolf Hitler.
- …He fit the familiar mold of mass shooters, said James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University, author and prominent expert on massacres. Houser was paranoid, blamed everyone but himself, alienated his family and survived in a world of self-imposed isolation.
- …By 1989, Houser imagined himself as a crusader for righteousness.
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Then 34, he tried to pay a man $100 to burn down the office of a lawyer who represented a pornographic movie theater to “save the world, bring law and order,” The Advocate newspaper reported, citing a court transcript.
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But his intended arsonist turned out to be a police informant, and Houser was hauled into court.
- …In April 2008, his 23-year-old daughter was planning to marry her fiance the following month. But Houser believed they were too young. He made “ominous as well as disturbing statements,” his family wrote in seeking a court order to keep him away. His wife, Kellie Maddox Houser, wrote that she was so worried about his unraveling mental state, she removed all his guns from the house.
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He stormed into his daughter’s office, then to another relative’s house, where police were called and intervened. Houser’s wife told officers he had a history of depression and bipolar disorder.
- …His wife of 30 years filed for divorce in March and wrote they had been separated since 2012. Their home had gone into foreclosure when they split, and she had not been able to find him.
He called her, she wrote in a court filing.
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“He told me if I wanted to play games with him, I’d better watch out because he always wins.”
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Norman Bone bought the house at a 2014 foreclosure auction. He asked Houser, a man he knew from church, how long it would take him to leave. Houser became angry and slammed the door, Bone said.
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He poured concrete down the toilets and drains and threw paint and feces around the house, Bone said.
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Related Posts:
(Link): ‘Trainwreck’ Makes the Case for Monogamy
(Link): Regnerus’ Misplaced Blame – Blame the Wimmins! Common male refrain, even from Christian men
(Link): Nice Guys – the bitter single men who complain women don’t like nice men
(Link): Male Entitlement In Dating and In Marriage – Single Christian Men Who Feel Entitled – Part 1
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