Osama is going to get jealous

Churchgoer Who Killed 7 Was About to Lose Job by Peter Slevin. At this rate, Osama is going to get jealous that we're getting all the publicity for killing each other. I wonder if this guy gets the 72 black-eyed virgins or black-eyed peas or whatever it is you're supposed to get.

Snarky comments aside, and despite my personal hostility to religion, I wonder if it's really fair to characterize this guy primarily as a "Churchgoer":

Witnesses told detectives that Ratzmann, 44, a computer technician, was losing his job and that a recent prophesy of doom by a church elder may have upset him.

Church members said Ratzmann had walked out on a taped sermon by the national leader of the church. In a message two weeks ago, Roderick C. Meredith wrote his worshipers to prepare for calamity....

So it's not so much that he was a church-goer but the "end-time" church that he went to. Roderick C. Meredith wrote:

Events prophesied in your Bible are now beginning to occur with increasing frequency. In this Work of the living God, we are able to warn you about what is going to happen soon. We are not talking about decades in the future. We are talking about Bible prophecies that will intensify within the next five to 15 years of your life!
Please understand. We are not "scaremongers." We love our fellow man. So it is our responsibility to warn our peoples—ahead of time—to prepare for the future. Most of our advice is spiritual in nature. However, in this editorial I want to give you some common sense advice involving your physical survival and your financial well-being.

Even so, the sermon says nothing about shooting your fellow parishoners. In fact, it just gives advice on how to prepare onself:

Do we have at least a week’s supply of emergency food and water, flashlight batteries, a first-aid kit, a battery-powered radio, prescription medications and other essential items? Have we read the instructions from our nation or region about how to prepare for such emergencies as hurricanes, earthquakes or terrorists attacks?
I also want to strongly encourage our subscribers—especially the Americans—to prepare for a financial emergency that may strike our nation within a very few years.

And plenty of that advice is unexceptionable:

A first priority would be to pay off all credit card debts—and all other debts we possibly can. We should also have at least the equivalent of 60 days’ living expenses in case of a sudden breakdown in the banking system or a similar emergency. Also, we should gradually work out a family budget that allows us, over time, to set aside financial resources to carry us through a year or more in case of job loss, catastrophic health situation, etc.

As he says, it's mostly "common sense advice". Even if one doesn't believe in God, much less the end time, it's pretty good advice. Which is not to say that he doesn't offer religious advice as well:

Finally, we should not leave God out of the picture...

Still, while I don't see how one can hold the preacher to blame for this guy's actions, this is further evidence that religion isn't necessarily an innoculation against evil.