Austin serial bomber was part of a Christian survivalist group that spoke of weapons and dangerous c

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Austin serial bomber was part of a Christian survivalist group that spoke of weapons and dangerous chemicals - as authorities reveal he had a list of future targets to continue his reign of terror

• Mark Anthony Conditt took part in a Christian survivalist group for home-schooled youth when he was a teen
• The conservative group would study the bible and discuss weapons and dangerous chemicals
• The 23-year-old blew himself up in Austin as police tried to arrest him about 2am Wednesday
• Police tracked down the bomber after obtaining CCTV footage of him posting two packages at a FedEx office in Austin on Sunday night
• Austin Police Chief Brian Manley revealed that Conditt was aware the cops were closing in on him and made a 25 minute video on his phone confessing to the attacks
• Police are still trying to determine a motive for the bombings that left two dead and injured five others
• Authorities revealed Conditt had a target list of future locations to continue his reign of terror
• His extended family in Colorado said they were in shock following the revelation Conditt was a serial bomber

By Emily Crane and Hannah Parry and Martin Gould In Pflugerville, Texas, For Dailymail.com
PUBLISHED: 11:22 EDT, 22 March 2018 | UPDATED: 14:04 EDT, 22 March 2018
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5532313/Austin-bomber-Mark-Conditt-Christian-survivalist-group.html

The serial Austin bomber had been part of a Christian survivalist group that would discuss weapons and dangerous chemicals - as authorities reveal he had a target list of future locations to continue his reign of terror.

Mark Anthony Conditt, 23, took part in the conservative club called Righteous Invasion of Truth (RIOT) as a teenager, which involved home-schooled youth studying the bible and being taught gun skills.

[...]

Cassia Schultz, a childhood friend who was in the same RIOT group as the bomber, told BuzzFeed that Conditt would regularly attend the group with one of his younger sisters.

'A lot of us were very into science; we would discuss chemicals and how to mix them and which ones were dangerous,' Schultz, now 21, said. 

'We were into weapons and stuff. A lot of us did role-playing, and (role-playing games); we'd have foam weapons and act out a battle.'

Schultz, who described Conditt as a 'normal kid', said she couldn't recall bombs or bomb making ever being discussed at the RIOT groups. She added that other members of their group were shocked to hear Conditt was behind the deadly Austin bombings.

[...]





Mark Conditt, pictured above with his parents Danene and Pat and his three young sisters, previously worked as a computer repair technician and is believed to have made all the bombs himself


Neighbors described the Conditts as a 'nice Christian family' and his mother had indicated on social media that the 23-year-old had been considering going on a 'mission' after finishing his studies

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h/t @Freya

[Frank Cannon]

So the bomber who made bombs was a member of a gun club that didn't make bombs.

[Sanguine]

Ooookay.   Not saying they don't exist, obviously they do, but I've never heard of a group like this before.

[Gefn]

Mamma is wearing a dress that makes her look like an extra from. "Kimmy  Schmidt"

Strange.

[mountaineer]

Ooookay.   Not saying they don't exist, obviously they do, but I've never heard of a group like this before.

Calling it "christian" seems a bit of a stretch.

[Restored]

Any word on what church they attend?

[jmyrlefuller]

Again, we have no sign of abnormal behavior or activity during this time frame.

[thackney]

Ooookay.   Not saying they don't exist, obviously they do, but I've never heard of a group like this before.

That depends upon who is describing them, mainstream media, or how they describe themselves.

LDS has a lot of survivalist aspects, but that doesn't include harming others.

https://survivalcache.com/book-review-lds-preparedness-manual/

https://www.lds.org/topics/emergency-preparedness?lang=eng

[Restored]

"Survivalist group" describes the Boy Scouts. I'm not putting much stock in this one. The British eat this stuff up so that probably explains why it is there.

[thackney]

Any word on what church they attend?

Conditt had attended regular church services at Austin Stone Community Church, according to Jensen, who added that he didn't know if Conditt "held onto his faith."

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/03/22/austin-serial-bomber-mark-anthony-conditt-everything-know-about-pflugerville-resident.html

https://austinstone.org/about/identity-beliefs

[Restored]

The church previously said they have no record of him.

I find it odd that the media constantly refers to him as Christian but never mentions a church. They did the same thing to the Atlanta Olympic bomber and the OK city bomber but neither could be identified with a church.

[thackney]

The church previously said they have no record of him.

More info here including statements from one who attended with him.

https://heavy.com/news/2018/03/mark-conditt-faith-austin-stone-community-church-religion-christian/

Note the same also said:

Jensen said that he doubts Conditt was still religious and holding onto his faith in recent times, although it was important to him in the past.

“I know faith was a serious thing for him. I don’t know if he held onto his faith or not. … The kind of anger that he expressed and the kind of hate that he succumbed to — that’s not what he believed in in high school. I don’t know what happened along the way. This wasn’t him.”

[Restored]

Yes but Jensen is the sole source for the Austin Stone story. I find it odd that a church is not mentioned when the family was supposed to be so religious. It's almost like the media is hiding something. Something inconvenient.

[thackney]

Yes but Jensen is the sole source for the Austin Stone story. I find it odd that a church is not mentioned when the family was supposed to be so religious. It's almost like the media is hiding something. Something inconvenient.

Another piece of the puzzle:

...But Austin Stone Community Church apparently wasn't the only one Conditt had attended over the years. The Times story quotes a woman who recalls going to a different, now-closed church with the family. Note the reference to this church being racially diverse. That's crucial, in light of early questions about who the bomber may or may not have been attacking:

Pamela Crouch, who home-schools her children in Pflugerville and has known the Conditts for several years, said her family attended a Bible study group at the Conditt home in the early 2000s, when both families belonged to a small evangelical church, Grace, that has since shut down.

Ms. Crouch said the church had an economically and racially diverse congregation. She described the family as “lovely people” and said that Mr. Conditt’s mother did some work outside the home as well as home-school their four children.

Obviously, the full picture of Conditt and his religious background — and what role, if any, that background played in the bomber's reasoning — is still developing.

https://www.getreligion.org/getreligion/2018/3/22/reporters-delve-into-the-religion-of-mark-conditt-the-dead-man-identified-as-austins-serial-bomber

[Restored]

I love the "mission" angle. "I'm thinking of going on a evangelical mission but instead, I might just blow people the F up. I can't decide".

[thackney]

I love the "mission" angle. "I'm thinking of going on a evangelical mission but instead, I might just blow people the F up. I can't decide".

And from several years ago.  As well it may have just been wishful thinking on his mom's part.

[Restored]

When it mentioned he was a Christian, my first guess was "unchurched" Christian. I find that considering yourself a Christian and not going to church can lead some people to odd beliefs that run counter to orthodox Christianity or just general weirdness. Their rationale is usually  self-justifying. I hear things like "everyone in church judges me" or "they are all hypocrites" or "I can't find a church I like". None of those reasons are rational. One of my friends put it best; "If I can find a church that  believes in reincarnation, I'll go".  Ludicrous but rational. Most of the time, they find the churches don't match their strange self-created beliefs. I call it the Rob Bell Syndrome. Rob Bell left the church because he didn't believe in Hell and Scripture kept talking about it.

Maybe Conditt stopped going to church because the church condemned bombing and murdering people.

[Smokin Joe]

I love the "mission" angle. "I'm thinking of going on a evangelical mission but instead, I might just blow people the F up. I can't decide".

I guess they get confused about bringing people closer to God and arranging the meeting.

Somewhere, there is a screw loose in all this, because I just can't find the part in the Bible where Jesus tells people to go out and blow people.up.

[mountaineer]

When it mentioned he was a Christian, my first guess was "unchurched" Christian. I find that considering yourself a Christian and not going to church can lead some people to odd beliefs that run counter to orthodox Christianity or just general weirdness. Their rationale is usually  self-justifying. I hear things like "everyone in church judges me" or "they are all hypocrites" or "I can't find a church I like". None of those reasons are rational. One of my friends put it best; "If I can find a church that  believes in reincarnation, I'll go".  Ludicrous but rational. Most of the time, they find the churches don't match their strange self-created beliefs. I call it the Rob Bell Syndrome. Rob Bell left the church because he didn't believe in Hell and Scripture kept talking about it.

Maybe Conditt stopped going to church because the church condemned bombing and murdering people.

[The_Reader_David]

The church previously said they have no record of him.

I find it odd that the media constantly refers to him as Christian but never mentions a church. They did the same thing to the Atlanta Olympic bomber and the OK city bomber but neither could be identified with a church.

Why do you find it odd?  The most fundamental commitment of the left is hatred of the Gospel (it's been that way since the left got it's name from the seating arrangement in the French National Assembly).  Having found that the alt-right white supremacist dog wouldn't hunt on this one, they reverted to form, found the perp was raised by some sort of protestants, and decided he's their much sought-after "Christian terrorist".

[Smokin Joe]

Why do you find it odd?  The most fundamental commitment of the left is hatred of the Gospel (it's been that way since the left got it's name from the seating arrangement in the French National Assembly).  Having found that the alt-right white supremacist dog wouldn't hunt on this one, they reverted to form, found the perp was raised by some sort of protestants, and decided he's their much sought-after "Christian terrorist".

By their fruits shall ye know them. Doesn't seem so Christian to me.

[TomSea]

SNOPES investigates RIOT (Righteous Invasion Of The Truth), the name of the group,  FWIW, rates story "Unproven".

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/was-the-austin-bombing-suspect-part-of-a-christian-homeschooling-group/

[Suppressed]

SNOPES investigates RIOT (Righteous Invasion Of The Truth), the name of the group,  FWIW, rates story "Unproven".

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/was-the-austin-bombing-suspect-part-of-a-christian-homeschooling-group/

Thanks for the follow-up, @TomSea

[Applewood]

When it mentioned he was a Christian, my first guess was "unchurched" Christian. I find that considering yourself a Christian and not going to church can lead some people to odd beliefs that run counter to orthodox Christianity or just general weirdness. Their rationale is usually  self-justifying. I hear things like "everyone in church judges me" or "they are all hypocrites" or "I can't find a church I like". None of those reasons are rational. One of my friends put it best; "If I can find a church that  believes in reincarnation, I'll go".  Ludicrous but rational. Most of the time, they find the churches don't match their strange self-created beliefs. I call it the Rob Bell Syndrome. Rob Bell left the church because he didn't believe in Hell and Scripture kept talking about it.

Maybe Conditt stopped going to church because the church condemned bombing and murdering people.

You may be right regarding some unchurched Christians, but I don't belong to any particular church and have never thought about blowing up people. 

About the only "irrational belief" I have is that I'd like to think my cats have a special place in heaven and I will be reunited with them someday.  Goes against what I was taught in Catholic Sunday School, but I miss my critters and the fantasy gives me comfort.