Religion Unplugged

🚨 5 takeaways from the shooting at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church 🔌

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By Bobby Ross Jr. | Religion Unplugged

We start with five takeaways from Sunday’s shooting at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston.

1. What happened: Genesse Moreno, 36, “allegedly fired an AR-style rifle and was also carrying a .22-caliber rifle when she walked into Joel Osteen’s megachurch that afternoon and began shooting, according to police. Two off-duty officers working security shot and killed Moreno. Her 7-year-old son and a 57-year-old man were wounded in the exchange.”

That’s the synopsis from the Houston Chronicle’s Matt deGrood. Read more coverage from ReligionUnplugged.com’s own Clemente Lisi and the New York Times’ J. David Goodman, Edgar Sandoval and Ruth Graham.

2. Warning signs: While the shooter’s motive remains unclear, her criminal record and documented history of mental illness have come under scrutiny, as reported by The Associated Press’ Juan A. Lozano, the Washington Post’s Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Michelle Boorstein and the Chronicle’s Ariana Garcia.

3. Legal gun purchase: Despite Moreno’s “red flags,” Texas gun loopholes likely allowed her to purchase firearms legally, according to the Chronicle’s Kennedy Sessions and AP’s Lozano and Jim Vertuno.

This was the 24th fatal shooting at a church in the past 25 years, according to Lifeway Research’s Aaron Earls.

4. Familiar face: Why was this shooting such big news?

Osteen is “one of the most familiar faces in American religion,” as AP’s Ben Finley notes:

The 60-year-old regularly preaches to about 45,000 people a week in a former basketball arena and he’s known to millions more through his television sermons.

Finley’s profile of the pastor quotes extensively from a 2004 AP interview with Osteen. I remember that story because I wrote it while covering religion for AP in Texas. (That interview was nearly 20 years ago. Time flies!)

5. Sunday is coming: Osteen is inviting Houston residents to attend this weekend’s services, saying, “We are not people of fear. We are people of faith.”

Chronicle religion reporter Eric Killelea provides details:

In a short, glossy clip posted to Osteen’s social media accounts, the pastor extended an invitation to Lakewood’s “special services” this Sunday—”a time of healing and restoration” for one of the nation’s largest congregations. “Yes, it’s been a difficult week, something we never dreamed we would have to deal with,” he said. “But we look back now, and we see the faithfulness of God, how He protected and watched over us.”

Read the full column.

This column appears in the online magazine Religion Unplugged.

Featured image by Robert M. Worsham, Wikimedia Commons