A Minnesota man who murdered sons compared Christianity to the KKK

“I’m terrified of religious fanatics,” Anthony Nephew wrote months before filming

By means of Ian M. GiattiChristian Post reporter Friday November 15, 2024

A Minnesota man involved in a murder-suicide that left five people dead, including his two sons, expressed his hatred of Christianity on social media before the shooting.

Anthony Nephew, 46, was found dead last week from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home in Duluth, Minnesota, after killing his wife and son, and his ex-partner and their son, authorities said.

Nephew killed his former partner, 47-year-old Erin Abramson, and their 15-year-old son, Jacob Nephew, at Abramson’s home in the 6000 block of Tacony Street in Duluth, Police Chief Mike Ceynowa revealed during a November 8 press conference.

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After the initial discovery of the victims, investigators shifted their attention to Nephew’s home. Upon arrival, police found Nephew, along with his wife, Kathryn Nephew, 45, and their young son, Oliver Nephew, 7, all dead. Authorities say Anthony Nephew committed suicide.

Although the motive remains under investigation, Nephew was known to have demonstrated “a pattern of mental health problems,” Ceynowa said.

A CP review of Anthony Nephew’s Facebook profile revealed several anti-Christian views, including posts in which he expressed fears about Christian influence on a second Trump administration.

In response to a question from August report in which a police officer shot a woman after she was “rebuked in the name of Jesus,” Nephew blamed religion for his mental health problems.

“My mental health and the world can no longer coexist peacefully, and a big part of the reason is religion,” he says wrote in July. “I am terrified that religious fanatics will impose their misguided beliefs on me and my family.”

Nephew also claimed that he had “intrusive thoughts of being burned at the stake as a witch, or crucified on a burning cross,” and “actually making people believe that I or my child is Satan or the Antichrist or whatever . boogieman’s favorite color they’re afraid of is this week.

A few days later, he compared Christianity versus the Ku Klux Klan, writing: “Christian is a dog whistle, for white sheets and pointy hats.”

In another after On July 28, Nephew linked to a Reuters report on President-elect Donald Trump’s comment that if they voted for him in November, they “wouldn’t have to vote again.”

“How’s that call to reject the rhetoric going?” Cousin wrote. “Your freedom of religion in no way means that you can impose it on others. This is exactly why I left the church. You are not interested in worshiping God, you are only encouraging religious extremism.”

He also expressed bizarre views on spirituality: in one October 17 messageNephew speculated that “if there is a higher power” that humans “could learn to direct our path through the universe by parking and controlling a celestial mass in front of the sun” to “give our civilization access to a nearly infinite source of energy , and possibly counter the threats of alien civilizations. (…) It is a better ending to the Bible than Revelation,” he added.

Cousin, who shared images In support of President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, Vice President Kamala Harris and others also appeared to support Harris’ failed presidential bid.

In a July 23 message, he wrote that Harris could be on his way to the White House “by the grace of God.” She was defeated by Trump on November 5.

Nephew also appeared to support abortion rights: in June 2022 aftershortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned it Roe v. Wadehe offered his “home and resources” to anyone who found himself in an “anti-abortion state.”

That same month, Nephew called himself a “survivor” of a suicide after in which he shared a national suicide hotline number.

A memorial run fundraiser as Abramson and Jacob Nephew raised more than $5,225 on Friday afternoon.

Duluth, which has a population of about 90,000, is about 130 miles north of Minneapolis.