At least we know where he comes from

[trinityvixen]

I found out on Sunday about George Tiller's murder, and I really just deflated. I'd followed the continuing story of his legal troubles for some time now via blogs. It was ridiculous that Kansans can, by trumped-up citizen fiat, demand that someone be examined as a criminal for any reason so long as there are enough mean-spirited assholes to sign a petition. And it is easy to imagine that anti-choicers will sign anything if they think it will stop abortions regardless of whether or not there is any reasonable legal challenge to Dr. Tiller's practices. PS: there wasn't. Twice. It was legal harrassment, plain and simple. The anti-choicers had little hope of outright banning the frequently medically necessary abortions Dr. Tiller provided, so they tried to ruin him financially by keeping him forever in court.

If it was an anti-choicer's business under assualt in the same manner, these same people would holler about discrimination. (Indeed, lots of Mormon-owned businesses in California are making these same "Woe is me for I exercised my right to strip gays of rights and now they are exercising their right not to support me!" arguments.) Never once do they stop and think why, in a highly conservative state, they could never get the votes to ban abortions or the momentum to take a challenge to abortion up to the SCOTUS. (The answer: because no matter what people profess in public, most acknowledge that abortion is necessarily legal.)

In the face of murder most foul, most ironically committed as Dr. Tiller was donating his time to his spiritual home to welcome his friends and fellow congregants to worship a supposedly forgiving and loving God, sensible anti-choicers are making sure that all and sundry understand they do not condone murdering doctors who provide abortions. The fact that they have to clarify their position on murder is very telling; the violence of their rhetoric most days (see, if you can stomach it, this summation of the levels of hatred Bill O'Reilly alone is responsible for fomenting against just Dr. Tiller, let alone hundreds of abortion providers) would belie their supposed abhorrence of murder. But so long as they pay lip service to "We don't advocate violence!" they can escape being associated what happened to Dr. Tiller (despite the fact that they don't really mind this having stopped Dr. Tiller once and for all).

Then there's this guy:
Scott Roeder, 51, of Merriam, Kan., whom authorities have described as a suspect in Sunday’s fatal shooting here of George Tiller, the doctor who had been a focal point for abortion opponents for decades, was once a subscriber and occasional contributor to a newsletter, Prayer and Action News, said to Dave Leach, an anti-abortion activist from Des Moines who runs the newsletter. Mr. Leach said he and Mr. Roeder had met once, and Mr. Roeder had described similar views to his own. Of Dr. Tiller’s death, Mr. Leach said, “To call this a crime is too simplistic,” adding, “There is Christian scripture that would support this."

A man has been murdered. Christian scripture most definitely has something to say about the issue of murder. Not suprisingly, this self-righteous prick, whose newsletter may have helped foment rage in the mind of a suspected murderer, believes that his reading of the Bible rearranges the importance of his God's Word. Last I heard, the Ten Commandments didn't have footnotes, and they didn't take backseat to any other set of laws. Not even the Pope could say "Murder is okay in the following instances," but for some reason Dave Leach thinks he can.

If there is a hell, I hope he burns in it. If there is a heaven, I hope Dr. Tiller is happy there.

Comments

[linaerys.livejournal.com]

If there is a hell, I hope he burns in it. If there is a heaven, I hope Dr. Tiller is happy there.

Yep.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

What else can we even say at this point? The next few weeks will be very telling. For now, my heart, hardened as it is against the belief in the supernatural, longs for the comfort of knowing that good people doing hard things will be rewarded some how, some way after death if they cannot be in life.

[linaerys.livejournal.com]

This needs to be call domestic terrorism, and the administration needs to say it cannot stand. Melissa says it best: http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2009/06/i-write-letters.html

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

As ever, she is amazing. And more eloquent than I. It is terrorism, and it must stop.

[viridian.livejournal.com]

Wow. The commentary you quoted astounds me. How fucking difficult is it to understand Thou shalt not kill?

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

It is a question of willful ignorance, I think, though I wouldn't rule out outright stupidity. The thinking goes, "This person is doing something that bothers me for reasons I don't feel like defending (or can't). Instead of working out why that is and codifying my moral disagreement, I will find an unassailable excuse for how I think and act accordingly."

That, or he cannot read the source material. Entirely possible for someone as blindingly ignorant as he seems.

[shell524.livejournal.com]

This kind of thing always just kind of makes me want to hide from the world for a while because it is so severely AGH-making.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

It makes you jealous of his moral relativism in a way, too: if I were able to so selectively read the major tenets of my religion to excuse the murdering of abusively awful people, I'd probably be as happy to condone murder as he.

Then I thank God that I am not because this guy is a monster.

[mithras03.livejournal.com]

And people got all up in arms when the Dept. of Homeland Security released a report that America's most dangerous threat comes from right-wing extremism....

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

You see, it's only harassment and religiously-backed terrorism when it's not Christians doing it. But don't try to tell them that! Quit persecuting the poor Christians!

This is exactly why we say that right-wing extremism is the problem in this country. Because most acts of domestic terrorism are committed by members of the militant right wing.

[saikogrrl.livejournal.com]

Just... Ugh.

I am no longer surprised by people who twist and select parts of religious scripture to support their own prejudices, but I am still appalled by this. Christianity is supposed to be about "love one another as I have loved you", yet all these people have is hate.

Also have you heard Lily Allen's song "Fuck you"? It quite hilariously sums up her feelings toward bigoted people.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I haven't heard the song, but I do appreciate the sentiment. As my friend said above, how freakin' hard is it to understand "THOU SHALT NOT KILL"?