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Stelter may not be aware of the popularity among many theistic New Age followers and nondenominational Christians of language like “I dislike religion; I’m just spiritual and close to God,” or “Christianity is not a religion, it’s a relationship with God.” |
Did the shooter believe in an afterlife, possibly contributing to his crime? |
Let’s look at an angle of this story that no one else seems to have mentioned. Two survivors’ accounts suggest the shooter may have been asking about religion in order to reassure them they were about to meet God, which may, in some sick way, have made it okay to him. Survivor Ana Boylan said: “The shooter said that he would only feel pain for a couple of seconds and that he would be with God soon…” Rand McGowan’s mother Stephanie Salas relayed a similar observation from her son, that the shooter asked, “‘Do you have a God? Are you Christian? Do you have a religion?’ … it was like telling the victims ‘you’re going to be meeting your maker… this won’t hurt very long.’” |
While it’s possible the gunman was being facetious, the witnesses don’t suggest that. Nor does his dating profile. There are reports that shortly before he committed suicide, he referred to meeting the victims in heaven. These have been dismissed by Christians as sick jokes. |
But what if they weren’t jokes? What if the shooter’s belief that he would meet his victims in the afterlife contributed to making it easier for him to kill them? The point is, I don’t know why he spoke of religion and the afterlife, and neither do the Christians claiming they do. |
So in every respect, Stelter’s statement “in fact, it seems he was an atheist who was targeting anyone who is religious” had factual problems. The evidence doesn’t support calling the gunman an atheist, it doesn’t support suggesting his intention was to target the religious, and it doesn’t support suggesting the murder victims were the more religious. It’s unfortunate that a show called Reliable Sources, with a normally credible host, contributed to the rumor mill with more rumors. Especially when introducing them with the announced goal of providing accurate information to counter misinformation. |
(Image via YouTube. Thanks to our reader G. Earl for alerting me to the Stelter report) |
The W National Park (French: Parc national du W)[1] or W Regional Park (French: W du Niger) is a major national park in West Africa around a meander in the River Niger shaped like the letter W. The park includes areas of the three countries Niger, Benin and Burkina Faso, and is governed by the three governments. Until 2008, the implementation of a regional management was supported by the EU-funded project ECOPAS (Protected Ecosystems in Sudano-Sahelian Africa, French: Ecosystèmes Protégés en Afrique Soudano-Sahélienne). The three national parks operate under the name W Transborder Park (French: Parc Regional W).[2] |
History [ edit ] |
The W National Park of Niger was created by decree on 4 August 1954, and since 1996 has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Within Niger, the Park is listed as a National Park, IUCN Type II, and is part of a larger complex of Reserves and protected areas. These include the adjacent Dallol Bosso (Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar) on the eastern bank of the Niger River and the partial overlap of the smaller "Parc national du W" (Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar).[3] The three parks are BirdLife International Important Bird Areas (IBAs) of types A1 and A3 (IBA codes IBA NE001, IBA BF008, and IBA BJ001). |
Geography [ edit ] |
Bends in the River Niger which give W National Park its distinctive name |
In the three nations, the Regional park covers some 10,000 km2 (3,900 sq mi) largely uninhabited by humans, having been until the 1970s a Malarial zone of wetlands formed by the delta of the Mekrou River with the Niger, broken by rocky hills. Historically, the area has been at one time a major area of human habitation, judged by the important archaeological sites (mostly tombs) found in the area. |
Flora [ edit ] |
In the national park, A total of 454 species of plants were recorded, including two orchids found only in Niger. The park also constitute the southern limit of tiger bush plateaus distribution in Niger. |
Fauna [ edit ] |
The park is known for its large mammals, including aardvark, baboon, African buffalo, caracal, cheetah, African bush elephant, hippopotamus, African leopard, West African lion, serval and warthog. The park provides a home for some of West Africa's last wild African elephant. However, the rare West African giraffe, today restricted to small parts of the Niger, is absent from the park. The W Park is also known for historic occurrence of packs of the endangered West African wild dog,[4] although this canid may now be extirpated from the area.[5] |
The National Park is one of the last strongholds for the Northwest African cheetah. A small population of 25 individuals is estimated to be resident across the W–Arli–Pendjari protected area complex.[6] |
The W National Park is also known for its bird populations, especially transitory migrating species, with over 350 species identified in the park.[7] The park has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area.[8] |
Gallery [ edit ] |
See also [ edit ] |
References [ edit ] |
Literature [ edit ] |