McEWEN, Tenn. (AP) — The blast in rural Tennessee that leveled an explosives plant and was felt for miles around left no survivors, authorities said Saturday.

The total number of dead was unclear, as was the cause of the Friday blast. By the weekend, the devastation came into focus, with officials saying they had found no survivors. A total of 16 people were missing, officials said.

“There’s a gauntlet of emotions there,” Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said during a news conference, pausing to clear his throat before he asked for prayers for the families of the victims in a shaky voice.

“We’ve recovered no survivors,” he added.

  • moody@lemmings.world
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    2 days ago

    “There’s a lot of people hurting. A lot of people who are crying a lot of tears,” he said. “We are sad that our community is going through this, but it’s a tremendous opportunity for the church to minister to a lot of those people today.”

    That’s such a sick statement to make. Truly disgusting.

    • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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      10 hours ago

      I’m not religious but I don’t see the problem with pointing out that the church can offer a lot of support to people after something like this.

      • sploder@lemmy.world
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        10 hours ago

        He said “ minister “ not support. Seeing a tragedy as an opportunity to minister aka get more people into your church aka MORE MONEY for yourself, is far from supporting people who need it. It’s predatory and disgusting. I grew up knee deep in that shit and hated every second of it.

    • Greddan@feddit.org
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      2 days ago

      Cults feed on shit like this. Desperate and distraught people are their favourite victims, except for children of course.

    • handsoffmydata@lemmy.zip
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      2 days ago

      Fuck anyone for trying to comfort another person if their worldview doesn’t match mine. Right, buddy?

      • dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works
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        11 hours ago

        Don’t feel sad about downvotes. It’s too bad it happened, but this is a great opportunity to tell you that the Eric the God Eating Penguin exists!

      • mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        17 hours ago

        It’s not about matching worldviews. It’s about the statement essentially being “yeah it sucks for these people, but it’ll be great for the church.” At best, it’s tone-deaf. At worst, it’s downright sociopathic. Comforting someone else shouldn’t ever be about how it can benefit you.

      • Rachelhazideas@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Your comments show that your empathy is underdeveloped.

        Comfort isn’t about yourself. When someone is grieving, you don’t do what makes yourself better, you do what makes them feel better.

        Calling the loss of lives an ‘opportunity’ is making it about yourself because it describes how this situation benefits your personal religious agenda, not the beliefs of others. Proselytizing to others in their most vulnerable moment because it makes you feel accomplished is making it about yourself, not them.

      • moody@lemmings.world
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        2 days ago

        First of all, opportunities are positive events, not things that one dreads. Calling the death of 16 people an opportunity to advance the goals of your church is sick.

        Second, fuck religion. I don’t hate people who are duped into them. I hate the people doing the duping. I don’t care about Joe Schmoe who goes to church on Sunday, but I hate the priest who touches children and rants to his congregation about sin and going to Hell.

        • handsoffmydata@lemmy.zip
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          First of all, opportunities are positive events, not things that one dreads.

          Is English your first language? People often use the word opportunity to find purpose in hardship, reframing adversity as something that might lead to growth.

          I hate the priest who touches children and rants to his congregation about sin and going to Hell.

          Wow, what a hot take. Someone give this guy more updoots for taking such a brave stance.

          • village604@adultswim.fan
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            1 day ago

            Opportunity - Noun:

            a favorable juncture of circumstances

            • Merriam Webster

            I suppose people dying is favorable if you want to push your cult on their grieving families.

          • NιƙƙιDιɱҽʂ@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            Is English your first language? You just completely supported their argument with your explanation of how “opportunity” is used lol

          • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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            The reason moody has issue is probably due to how predatory it is from an outside perspective, sure from within it’s helping the community and bringing folks to Jeebus or whatever. But from without it just comes across as scummy and predatory, it’s basically the same thing cults do capture folks while they’re at their lowest.

            Theres a church near me that does a hot meals thing with an open pantry so folks on hard times can get a hot meal and some food for the week, no strings attached don’t need to attend church or believe in their god or anything. Closest thing to pressure is that the pastor wanders around and just talks to folks, if they want to talk video games he talks video games, anime then anime, Jesus then Jesus. There’s no pressure for anything beyond saying thanks,

            Also the pastor lets the local Neo-Hellenic guys use their backyard area for rituals which is fucking awesome. Same with the Wiccan.

          • Taleya@aussie.zone
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            1 day ago

            Chance is the word you use there. A chance for hope. A chance to comfort. A chance to bring people together to survive the tragedy.

            There’s a reason why “opportunity” and “opportunistic” are related.

          • Zetta@mander.xyz
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            1 day ago

            Religion is brain dead buddy, sorry you got into it. If you were a kid, it’s not your fault. You were brainwashed before you could develop critical thinking skills. If you’re an adult, sorry bud you got scammed

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            2 days ago

            Opportunity as a way to reframe a bad situation is a good argument. “Is English your first language” is a very poor argument. Merriam-Webster shows it as positive, Cambridge says between positive and neutral, and Oxford just says neutral. As a native English speaker I feel comfortable saying that the connotation of opportunity is generally positive.

          • HasturInYellow@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            I could clarify that “not all Christians” but see arguments about men being rapists. It’s simply easier and safer to treat all Christians as dangerous.

            • BananaIsABerry@lemmy.zip
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              11 hours ago

              Turns out it’s totally fine to stereotype entire groups as long as they aren’t women or not white.

          • ayyy@sh.itjust.works
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            We have a word for speaking confidently about something without evidence. That word is “lying”.