Bloody Hands, And They Glory In It

I've been struggling this last 24 hours over what to say about George Tiller's murder.  He was killed less than 200 miles away from me, (allegedly) by a man who was caught less than 20 miles from me and who lived less than 5 miles from me.  It's one of those times when violence is brought uncomfortably close to where one lives.

George Tiller was a hero, a real hero.  He and his equally heroic staff saved women's lives and preseved their ability to bear children - yes, that's right.  George Tiller was in the business of helping women not only live but also have families.  After being shot in both arms, under constant threat of violence toward his clinic and his person, the near-constant victim of malicious prosecution, he and his colleagues went into work everyday and did a difficult job.  We can only hope and pray that the work of his clinic will continue somehow without him.

What I don't want to do, however, is let Dr. Tiller's extraordinary work have anything to do with the condemnation due not only to his murderer, but to the so-called "pro-life" movement at large.  They are terrorists.  Most of them use tactics that are legal - barely - such as screaming vile insults at women seeking health care, driving around cities in pickup trucks with billboards supposedly depicting the remains of aborted fetuses.  A slightly smaller group will block access to clinic and trap women in their cars, which is illegal but not, for some reason, a terror tactic which is viewed too seriously by this society.

And then there are those who take the hateful, violent rhetoric of the movement's leaders and turn it into action, just like every other terrorist movement on the planet.  They take action based on words like this:

We are at war. Harsh as this may sound it is true--but it is not new. This war to which I refer did not begin in just the last several months, although new battles are underway--and they bring an intensity and urgency to our efforts that may rival any time in the past. But it is correct to acknowledge that you and I are warriors - members of the Church on earth - often called the Church Militant.

Those words are from Timothy Finn, Bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.  And as far as rhetoric from this eminently mainstream movement goes, it's pretty tame.  Mark Silk has more.  Scott Roeder apparently has a criminal record and will be vigorously painted by the anti-choice movement as not really one of them.  They'll try to portray him as primarily a criminal, one who happened by random chance to glom onto the fringes of their movement.  They'll attempt to marginalize him and his views, and wash their hands of any responsibility for his actions.

But they are responsible for Dr. Tiller's murder.  This was exactly the outcome people like Timothy Finn and Randall Terry want to see.  They want, simply put, to terrorize, and they don't care what form it takes so long as terror is the result.

Comments

[kathy a.]

you know i agree with your assessment this is the inevitable result of a movement meant to terrorize.

i'm not sure i'd put the catholic bishop in the same box as randall terry, who was one of the architects of the extremely inflammatory tactics and rhetoric. but your point is right, some very mainstream sources have added fuel to the fire.

i don't normally follow the religion columns at the washington post, but thought you might be interested in this one: http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/susan_brooks_thistlethwaite/2009/05/the_killing_of_george_tiller_a_pro-life_murder.html

[wev]

In my experience genuinely pro-life people are working to end the death penalty, working to educate for a reduction of unwanted pregnancies, working to bring health care to the sick and food to the hungry. They're not violent. They don't get up in people's faces and scream at women in front of clinics and they don't wink at shooting people in churches. They are genuinely strong and, without exception, nonviolent.

The militant anti-abortionists, on the other hand, when all is said and done, are bullies and cowards who are struggling to reestablish old-fashioned patriarchy. Their inflammatory rhetoric stimulates the wildest among them to destroy and kill. The god they believe in is indistinguishable from themselves.

Whether bishop or television pundit, it is only pomp and circumstance which distinguishes these men from those who for centuries have believed in their right to oppress and abuse their own families and enslave others.

[janinsanfran]

Thanks for including the ostensibly "respectable" Catholic bishops among those you name as culprits who incite these crimes. Their allegiance to patriarchy is soiling a rich, complex spiritual legacy. It's sad to observe.