By Larry Jones
“The murder of Dr. [George] Tiller is an affront to every moral system imaginable,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Yet anti-choice ideologues say the bible justifies what normal people call a MONSTROUS CRIME. Even if it did, in my opinion, the bible is not some infallible writing from a non-existent god and should not be our guide for morality.
Yet, Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue, piously proclaims that "George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God.” This wingnut has turned grieving into an attack on an heroic doctor whose life was dedicated to giving good medical care to women.
Scott Roeder is the man whom authorities think shot Tiller and whom they arrested in Merriam, Kansas. He was once a subscriber and occasional contributor to a newsletter, Prayer and Action News, said Dave Leach, an anti-abortion activist who runs the newsletter. Mr. Leach said that he had met Roeder once, and that Roeder had described similar views to his own on abortion.
Leach tried to distance himself and his newsletter from Roeder and his murder, but he stated that: “To call this a crime is too simplistic. There is Christian scripture that would support this."
SO WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
For the sake of argument, let’s pretend that the bible is the moral authority for humanity. This is an outrageous assumption, since the bible is filled with abominable treachery and justification for rape, murder, baby killing, and a bloody list of other horrors. Biblical law orders You SHALL KILL people for committing such offenses as cursing one’s father or mother (Ex. 21:17), for being a "stubborn son" (Deut. 21:18-21), for being a homosexual (Lev. 20:13), or even for picking up sticks on the Sabbath (Numbers 15:32-35)! As the Freedom from Religion Foundation site states: “Far from protecting the sanctity of life, the bible promotes capital punishment for conduct which no civilized person or nation would regard as criminal.”
Nevertheless, here are some of the verses the supporters of doctor killers use. Exodus 21:22-25 talks about what happens if men are physically fighting and a pregnant woman nearby is injured and has a miscarriage and presumably the baby is all right: the man who caused the injury shall pay a fine to the husband. But if “any harm follows” and presumably the fetus is born dead, “then you shall give life for life,” e.g., the death penalty. This interpretation is an enormous reach of the literal meaning of the passage, yet that’s what anti-abortionist bible “scholars,” like Jim Rudd do.
The bible doesn’t actually deal with the real issue of abortion. The word never appears in any translation whatsoever. Oh, the anti-woman anti-choice Christian fascists twist a lot of verses to their purpose and cite the commandment “You shall not murder,” Deuteronomy 5:17 and Exodus 20:13, and then they give all-out support to the American military’s murder of hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq and Afghanistan, large numbers of them civilians. They are contemptible hypocrites who should be openly and spectacularly opposed by all thinking people.
These people begin with the apriori assumption that a fertilized human egg is a person. But it’s interesting that the bible itself says that life begins when a newborn first breathes. Genesis 2:7 says that “God formed man from the dust of the ground [it had just rained, so read mud instead of dust], and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.” So, according to that particular biblical myth, we become persons when we take our first breath.
Unfortunately that myth goes on to say that woman was made out of man’s rib where she became subservient to him. There was no feminist movement back then. Of course there never really was a garden of Eden.
It is truly ironic that Dr. Tiller’s murderer chose a church to do his dastardly deed. Tiller belonged to the Wichita, Kansas, Church of the Reformation, which in turn is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. ELCA is far more liberal than the fundamentalist Missouri Synod Lutheran Church, yet they have not taken a stand for or against abortion. But Tiller’s church gave him strong support and thus appears to be pro-choice. That he died virtually in the arms of those who loved him makes the tragedy even more excruciating.
Pro-choice religious people and Christian fascists are at odds with each other on this and almost every other social issue and between them there can be no compromise on the issue of abortion, despite Obama’s attempts at conciliation. World Can’t Wait has united with open minded and progressive church people and we seek to continually broaden that unity. But we will continue to expose and oppose those who want to go back to the bible or the Dark Ages and continue to oppress women.
As this video from Wichita shows, hundreds came to a demonstration in Wichita to honor Tiller. A few protestors showed up on the other side of the street, along with dozens of cops. George Tiller’s death should spur on all of us who call for abortion on demand and with no apology.
What about the fact that if a women cut off or extracted any other portion of her bleeding body, she’d be committed? It’s either insane or suicide. No, mentsrual flow doesn’t count because the flesh that sloughs out isn’t living but already dead and she nor anyone else cut it out or un-naturally extracated it. If she pulled her heart out she’d be dead. Call a fetus what you will. Baby, fetus, the heart inside it is still a heart. No one denies it is a heart. If you pull it out, it dies. A woman won’t even cut off her nose to spite her face, but she’ll cut off her nose to spite God and his design. Women don’t cut off any other part of their body. They weep when they have a massectomy (sp?) and rightfully so, but their child? … meh… and sadly sometimes its because they trusted someone else, like Planned Parenthood that said it would all be ok and then they have to live with their consciences. Talk about a reminder. At least when you remember a rapist, you don’t have to have a guilty conscience. When you murder your own kid, when you get down to it, you can’t point completely at someone else. It was your kid. You did it. Repent and God can wipe away every tear from your eyes and you can see your child again, one day. Now that’s hope. That is redemption. Or you can harden yourself like Whoopi Goldberg who has had at least 9 abortions at last count. Happy soul there! Repent while there is still time. Harden not your hearts as in the day of provocation. The Lord’s mercy is new every morning. Taste and see that the Lord is good and full of compassion. He will have mercy on your soul and cover you as a hen covers her chicks. He is the author/designer of motherhood. He cares for you. His son died for you. Bitterness will never satisfy.
By your fruits, you will know them. Tiller\’s fruit was slaughtered babies. The USDA requires more humane slaughter than Tiller and his ilk perform. Silly author talks about the first breath, but what happens to that breath? Is it not carried by the blood? Does not a baby\’s blood flow, given life by the mother\’s breath? (forget about the fact that the verse quoted was about the first man, not a baby – Adam was never a baby) If it has a heartbeat, it\’s alive. Why is it that everyone considers a \”Flatline\” death? Might not be breathing, but the heart is pumping, still alive. So pathetically sad. If you are suffocating, drowning, are you dead when you stop breathing or when your heart stops? And why is it that a baby aborted can\’t breathe besides the fact that he\’s not allowed the chance? If those late term babies were born early at 34 weeks, or if C-sectioned, they\’d breathe well enough. Point is, it is pre-meditated to take away each child\’s breath and heart beat in an abortion. No accident. Not natural. It\’s murder. All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
Funny how the author doesn’t mention the verses that describe justice where murderers to be killed by an avenger of wrath who exacts vengeance on behalf of the murdered. The murderer is to flee to a safe city and be tried, but if found outside the city, they are fair game. If they are found guilty they are to be stoned. If the government won’t do it’s job the avenger of wrath should. Don’t like it? Don’t do it. Tiller’s executioner was willing to lay down his life to stop Tiller from continuing his wanton mercenary bloodshed for profit. He was not the innocent one. The children were. The church he attended can call itself what it will, it’s a free country and even Satan masquerades as an Angel of Light. Their damnation will be the same as Tiller’s. God was long suffering towards Tiller to let him last so long without repentance. Him being killed in the CINO church was a warning to those left behind. You just never know. Jesus said “Suffer the little children to come unto me, for such is the kingdom of God” but he didn’t say to send them to him. Tiller may have helped populate the kingdom through his butchery, but he gets no credit for doing so. If you don’t want a kid, don’t have sex. It’s not the kids’ fault, even when a rapist violates a women. Kill the rapist, not the kid. Don’t let him fester in prison with a chance of parole, sustained by the taxpayer. A child born of rape wouldn’t be so much a reminder of the rapist if he was eliminated. Adoption can remove him from visibility as well, but murdering the kid doesn’t solve anything and it violates his rights and he can’t even defend himself. Everyone wants to defend the polar bear, spotted owl etc etc “those who can’t speak for themselves” even Bald Eagle eggs and deer in a doe’s womb are more protected. How backa$$ward is that? He that lives by the sword/scalpel die by the sword/scalpel/gun. He’ll be held accountable for his deeds as will the author of this perverted and twisted article for mangling the scripture and promoting wickedness. Sodom and Gomorrah were pulverized in brimstone and fire… just keep it up. Don’t say you haven’t been warned. Willingly ignorant. Gnashing of teeth. Outer darkness. No relief. No end. It’s called Hell and it’s a real place and destination. You don’t have to go, and neither did Tiller, but he is on his way. Guaranteed.
What I find highly ironic about the author\’s dismissal of the Biblical claim that life does not begin until a child takes its first breath is that the Revolutionary Communist Party with which The World Can\’t Wait is associated has claimed the EXACT SAME THING.
http://revcom.us/i/166/166-abortion-en.pdf