Seung Cho and bad church experiences

From MSNBC’s Making of a Massacre: Quiet and disturbed, Cho Seung-Hui seethed, then exploded. His odyssey.

Cho was trapped in a generational warp, neither quite Korean like his parents nor American like his peers. His parents turned to the church for help with his emotional problems, but he was bullied in his Christian youth group, especially by rich kids. “Cho was a smart student who could understand the meaning of the Bible,” recalled his boyhood pastor at Centreville (Va.) Korean Presbyterian Church, who asked not to be identified in an interview with NEWSWEEK to avoid further media inquiries. But the pastor doubted that Cho believed the words. In his diatribe, Cho castigates Christians—and compares himself to Jesus Christ, martyred on the cross. Cho’s progression from lonely boy to mass murderer is full of omens and portents and twists—a modern tragedy that might have been avoided, if only anyone had been able to see what he saw with those dead eyes.

[ht: biscuet]

[update 5/6/07] in the Washington Post — Isolation Defined Cho’s Senior Year: Beseeched by Mother, N.Va. Church Offered to Purge ‘Demonic Power’ ::

Hyang In Cho was so desperate to find help for her silent, angry son that she sought out some members of One Mind Church in Woodbridge to heal him of what the church’s head pastor called “demonic power.”

But before the church could act late last summer, Seung Hui Cho had to return to Virginia Tech to start his senior year, said the Rev. Dong Cheol Lee, minister of the Presbyterian congregation.

College might have been the worst place for Cho, according to interviews with classmates, church members and other acquaintances. At home, he had his parents, his sister and some structure and discipline. At Westfield High School in Chantilly, where he graduated in 2003, he was studious and had joined the science club.

Now, new details have emerged suggesting that Cho’s mental condition worsened at Virginia Tech, especially in his senior year after his mother had sought to step in back home. His isolation grew, and his attention to schoolwork and class time dropped, according to numerous interviews. On April 16, he killed 32 people and himself in the deadliest shooting rampage by an individual in U.S. history.

Cho’s family has said nothing publicly about his medical history, his academic performance or anything else that might explain what drove him to kill. Nevertheless, Hyang In Cho knew last year that her son was troubled. Before finding One Mind, she had gone to several other congregations of various denominations seeking help, according to officials at several Northern Virginia churches.

“His problem needed to be solved by spiritual power,” said Lee, whose church members met with Cho and his mother. “That’s why she came to our church — because we were helping several people like him.” Those churchgoers told Hyang In Cho that her son was afflicted by demonic power and needed deliverance, Lee said.