How a man who planned to blow up a mosque became Muslim

this is the story of a man who entered a mosque planning to blow it up and instead ended up becoming Muslim his name is Richard Mack McKinney and his story was revealed in a new documentary by the New Yorker McKinney was a former U.S marine from Muncie Indiana he served in the Marine Corps for 25 years and had completed several combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan he developed a deep hatred of Muslims McKinney says he was trained to see the Muslim soldiers he killed as paper targets on a shooting range and not as humans his

anger only deepened when he returned home to Muncie to find American Muslims who he deemed the enemy settling in his City Olivia Muncie now I was being forced to see people that I considered an enemy every time I went out the door unable to contain his anger towards Muslims he devised a plan my country's done with me but I'm not done with it I would die for that cough gladly because I came up with a plan [Music] I said okay non-explosive expert by no means but I knew enough to make a bomb Kenny set his

eyes on a local mosque in his community and what he considered at the time to be his final mission in the war against Islam my plan was to detonate an IED [Music] right outside the Muncie Islamic Center on a Friday afternoon we were all gathered and I was hoping for at least 200 or more dead injured at least Richard decided to enter the mosque on a scouting Mission he was nervous and on Red Alert convinced that the Muslims and the mosque were Killers who might execute him instead he was treated as a valued guest this

both confused and shocked him still a man on a mission he decided to capitalize on the lack of hostility and ask the mosque members for some scriptures which he planned to read to reaffirm his hatred of Islam for eight weeks McKinney read and returned to the mosque with questions on the verses and passages he read each time he was met with understanding and after eight weeks he decided to convert to Islam what started off as a mission to kill turned into one of acceptance I could never in a million years could never repay this community

what they've given me I see a lot of my actions now as a making of amends I hope the day comes when I can forgive myself 13 years after abandoning his plan for mass murder McKinney is still a Muslim and works as an anti-hate activist and speaker he also went on to serve as president of the Islamic Center of Muncie for two years which houses the mosque he once planned to blow up [Music]