Monday, June 06, 2011

Pastor’s son murders mother of 10

Toby Stangel went on a shooting spree in Hawaii, killing a mother of 10 and wounding several others. By all accounts, the shootings were the random acts of a troubled youth. Stangel’s father is the pastor of North Shore Christian Fellowship. Stangel grew up in the church but always had problems.

Toby Stangel was charged Saturday night with murder, seven counts of attempted murder and firearms charges and was being held in lieu of $5 million bail after he allegedly killed a mother of 10 and wounded two others in a 17-minute shooting spree that stretched from Kaimuki to Aiea.

The church has openly banded together to support the victims and to help deal with the grief of this horrendous tragedy. That’s all good, and I commend them for rising to the occasion, but I have to ask – where was the magic Christian morality in all this? Stangel is a Christian. He presumably knew the difference between right and wrong (at least in Christian terms). I guess knowing the bible does not make one moral.

Before you make nasty comments, please keep in mind that I know my statement is crazy. I’m just poking the bear with a big pointed stick because the bear needs to be poked. Reading the bible and being a Christian do not make us moral. It’s the actions we take that create a record of our behavior. In Stangel’s case, his murder spree has little to do with his faith and more to do with his upbringing and values (or mental issues).

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rudyruddell 13p · 727 weeks ago

Poking the bear will just cause the bear to say, "We are all sinners. Let you who are without sin cast the first stone."
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Baconsbud 96p · 727 weeks ago

I figure the defense for christian will be he wasn't a true christian. I think as a group they drop members faster then any other group if they do wrong. It is good to hear they are trying to help the victims family. I doubt there were no signs that something was wrong and I wonder if instead of getting counseling the father just figured praying would be enough.
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deleted8470268 143p · 727 weeks ago

The Bible making the world a better place ? NOT !
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Christina · 726 weeks ago

Religion has nothing to do with it. It takes someone not in there right mind to do something like this. I live across the street from where the first shooting happened and by hearing the sound of the shots that rang out, this man intended to kill. No one in their right mind would do this. It's drugs and mental illness that Make some one capable of acting on the horrible thoughts that go through their head at times of anger, sadness, frustration, etc. I'm not condoning it, but even those who follow religion faithfully commit sin. I just don't believe religion is a strong influence (good or bad) in situations like this.
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Baconsbud 96p · 726 weeks ago

How can you be sure religion didn't effect him in a way that was part of the cause? I do agree the odds are that he had mental problems of some type but there are actions people within religion take that can cause some people to lose it. Was he disciplined as a child and what type of discipline was used? Was he beat as a child because the parents believed in spare the rod spoil the child? We don't have enough information to really say what the cause was nor can we say what wasn't part of the cause.

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