by Sam Hodges
March 17, 2021 | UM News

Authorities continue to investigate the motive for the March 16 shootings at Atlanta area massage parlors that left eight people dead, including six Asian women.

The suspect in custody reportedly told investigators he shot the victims not out of race hatred but in response to his sexual addiction.

Still, some United Methodists are underscoring that the horrific violence occurred amid a well-documented rise in harassment and attacks against people of Asian ancestry in the U.S.

“The United Methodist Church has a moral obligation to be vocally and visibly outraged at these shootings and this precipitous rise in violence and hatred against the Asian American community,” said the Rev. John Oda, who directs The United Methodist Church’s Asian American Language Ministry Plan.

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