Was missing soldier killed because he did not believe in god?

[cleanhippie]

Body found in North Texas identified as soldier

PETROLIA, Texas (AP) — Authorities said human remains found in a shallow grave in rural North Texas are those of a missing U.S. Army soldier, five years after they think he was killed.

The Clay County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday said Spc. Jose Ramirez of El Centro, Calif., was found early last month outside a home near Petrolia, just south of the Texas-Oklahoma border. Authorities were called to the home after an anonymous tipster contacted them about an unsolved murder.

According to a criminal complaint, authorities found bullet holes in a bedroom wall and blood stains in a hallway. A day later, they searched the area around the home and found a human skull with bullet marks as well as a pair of shorts with the word "Army," the complaint said.

Authorities charged 30-year-old Justin Green with first-degree murder in February. Green, who once lived in the home where the bullet holes were found, remains in jail on $1 million bond and will appear in court Monday. His attorney did not return a phone message.

Ramirez was 22 when he was reported missing from Fort Sill, Okla., in December 2005, a military spokesman said. Ramirez's family in California could not be reached.

--snip--

Brittany Green allegedly told authorities that her brother said he had shot Ramirez twice because he "did not believe in God and alleged that Ramirez reached for a gun," the complaint said. Terri Green helped her son move Ramirez's body from the home's garage to the shallow grave, the complaint said.

http://www.chron.com/news/article/Body-found-in-North-Texas-identified-as-soldier-3403078.php

[TheWraith]

1. I'm going to go with "because the killer was a nut."

No need to get esoteric with cause and effect.

[cleanhippie]

2. 'her brother said he had shot Ramirez twice because he "did not believe in God"'

[TheWraith]

5. Like I said: nut.

Look, I've got no taste for organized religion, but I also don't hold with the whole business of taking the acts of every lunatic with delusional thinking and laying them at the doorstep of every person who has religious belief. We don't stand for that shit when some right-wing hack is trying to say all Muslims are Osama Bin Laden, and that also goes across the board. You don't have to like someone's religion, you don't even have to respect it, but it would be nice if we could refrain from insinuating that anyone who believes in a deity is one step away from being a homicidal lunatic.

[cleanhippie]

6. You are inferring something I am not intending.

But I understand what you are saying. No worries.

[dmallind]

7. That's not even vaguely connected to the article or OP

Discussing whether ONE soldier was killed by ONE loony because of his atheism does not mean in any way shape or form all people killed by loonies are for the same reason, or all loonies have the same religious motivation. Any more than the latest teen suicide for bullying reasons means all teens kill themselves because of bullying or all bullies cause suicides. Discussing the specific does not mean trying to address the generic.

It's the reverse that's the problem - pretending that nobody can kill because of religious motivation, or target atheists to kill.

[SATIRical]

21. AND

there's an 'and' after that.

The guy sounds like a nut but it could be self-defense. I'll wait until the facts come out before getting excited.

[dmallind]

3. The nut didn't kill millions of other people

We should imagine that the people involved know his reasons for picking Ramirez more than we do.

[cbayer]

4. No kidding. The person reporting this has been charged with evidence tampering as well.

[dmallind]

8. Do you think's that's because of the motivation hearsay?

I'm guessing that's just a bit more to do with the body getting buried. Nice try though.

[cbayer]

9. I think it might lead one to question the reliability of the one person who reported this.

The person who said this also said he was killed because he was "a hateful man" and claimed that he had reached for a gun.

[cleanhippie]

12. Can a "hateful man" believe in god?

Can a person that has a gun believe in god?

Most certainly. So why is is unreasonable to think that one reason he may have killed him because he "didn't believe in god"?

[Starboard Tack]

10. What is your point in posting this here?

Do you think there is some movement afoot to kill non-believers? Or are you trying to start a fire just for the heck of it?
Otherwise, why not post it in the Gungeon?

[cleanhippie]

11. No worries.

Just ignore this thread.

[ellisonz]

14. That's just how he rolls. n/t

[cleanhippie]

15. Don't be jealous, now.

Thats a sin, you know.

[ellisonz]

17. That wasn't jealousy.

That was affirmation.

[cleanhippie]

18. If you want to try believe that...

fine by me.

But we both really know, don't we.

[ellisonz]

19. Yes, I'm just a player hater.

And you're a saint

[cleanhippie]

20. Truth is often stranger than fiction.

[rug]

13. Hmmm, which is more plausible, he reached for a gun or he didn't believe in God?

[cleanhippie]

16. Whichever is more convienient for your dismissal.

[muriel_volestrangler]

22. 'because Ramirez did not believe in God' is what it means

Raw Story has the criminal complaint, and the wording there is clearer. Also, he was shot twice, indoors, with a rifle; it does not sound like a case of "I saw he was going for his gun, so I went for mine", because people do not normally have a loaded rifle ready in their own house.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/03/15/texas-man-allegedly-killed-soldier-for-not-believing-in-god/

"Stephanie told Source #2 that Justin Green shot and killed the victim with a military rifle.
...
Brittany Green advised that Justin Green came to Brittany's apartment and and told Brittany and Coral that he had shot Ramirez two times because Ramirez did not believe in God and alleged that Ramirez reached for a gun."

[rug]

23. Well, let's see.

Source #2 said Green had access to the victim' credit card and Brittany Green said that he and Corral used it after his death which had been stolen by Green "possibly at the time of the murder."

Naturally this is a hate crime directed at atheists.

[muriel_volestrangler]

24. I can't see your point at all

Britanny has stated her brother killed Ramirez "because Ramirez did not believe in God".

Why are you talking about the credit card?

[rug]

25. Because robbery is a more likely motive.

And source #1 said Brittany helped dispose of the body.

[muriel_volestrangler]

26. Source #2 also mentioned Justin Green saying ...

..."that the victim was a hateful man and that the victim did not believe in the Lord". It does seem to have been seen as a motive.

[rug]

27. And source #2 knew of the murder five years ago.

Rather than report it, she ate pizza paid for with the victim's credit card.

Frankly, the credibility of all involved is dubious. Certainly insufficient to make this story a cause celebre of hate crimes. There's plenty of actual, though admittedly less sensational, bias against atheists to deal with than this tabloid example.