“6/01/2009, 12:23pm EST”
Regarding George Tiller
George Tiller, a prominent doctor and abortion provider in Kansas, was shot and killed by an anti-abortion activist yesterday. By all sane accounts he was a wonderful man.
President Barack Obama’s reaction:
I am shocked and outraged by the murder of Dr. George Tiller as he attended church services this morning. However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence.
Similarly, United States Attorney General Eric Holder has called Tiller’s death “an abhorrent act of violence.”
Their responses, and the reactions of most in the progressive blogosphere, fail to appreciate the fact that such activists believe abortion, no matter the stage of the pregnancy, is just such an abominable “act of violence.” Anti-abortion activists, not illogically given their premise that “abortion is murder,” believe that Tiller’s death has revenged and prevented thousands of other “murders.” If their premise were true, Tiller’s death would seem quite justifiable.
And, in their minds, there is no doubt that the premise is true. Hence such believers will read Obama’s and Holder’s statements and be galvanized to further action. It is bad enough when your leaders do not agree with you, but it is even worse when your leaders so grossly misunderstand your position. This breeds a hopelessness that will lead to further violent acts. After all, when you cannot depend on your leaders to properly understand your position, much less take action on it, you are left with no option but to take matters into your own hands.
I leave you with prominent anti-abortion activist Randall Terry’s reaction to news of Tiller’s death:
George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God. I am more concerned that the Obama Administration will use Tiller’s killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions. Abortion is still murder. And we still must call abortion by its proper name; murder. Those men and women who slaughter the unborn are murderers according to the Law of God. We must continue to expose them in our communities and peacefully protest them at their offices and homes, and yes, even their churches.
“Peacefully” here is just a word. Remember: to him and other anti-abortion activists, the peaceful thing to do is to end abortion, no matter the means.
Never leave home without it.
