Dr. George Tiller, one of the few doctors in the country who would perform late-term abortions was shot and killed over the weekend at the church he attends. Yes, you read all of that correctly.
Abortion is horrible. It is. You can't get around it. It takes a life and far more often then the abortion on demand crowd wants to admit it severely effects the life of the mother. That said, I'm not for 100% bans. Just making it really really really difficult to get one.
However, the words said by the anti-abortion wackjob Randall Terry here show that there is a reason why sensible talk on abortion never gets anywhere.
Now, don't get me wrong, groups like NOW and NARAL are so misguided and single-minded on this you can't negotiate with them.
But, thankfully, they don't make the laws. And when anti-abortion groups like Terry's allow people like him to take a frontal stance, well, that's a problem.
His statements are ludicrous. A recent Gallup poll found Americans are "pro-life" than "pro-choice." So his statements on the the anti-abortion movement are flawed. Why? Because they only look at his extreme end of the movement.
I can be "pro-life" yet I don't make that my only criteria in choosing elected officials. To me, pro-life also means I am against the death penalty as it is a flawed system.
I digress. Getting back to some of the statements Mr. Terry makes. Mr. Terry has lost his "war" on abortion (my term) because he is fighting a war. Jesus didn't wage wars. Wars have a winner and a loser. Following Christ is a different model. Its not an earthly "us against them" battle.
Its a battle against the evil forces and powers that afflict this world, powers of which things like Dr. Tiller and abortion are only symptoms. Honestly, I fear for Mr. Terry's soul as much as Dr. Tiller's because Mr. Terry seems so full of hatred on this issue.
Murder is never ok. Its simply not. I understand it isn't a long logical step from some of Bonhoeffer's ideas to this. But it is a step. And a massive one.
While Terry clearly stated that he does not condone the act, he made it sound like it was justified. That is scary. And wrong. When we say things like that, Christ weeps.
3 comments:
And this is why I think that we (Christians) need to re-think what it means to be pro-life. I've been thinking about this a lot, with this news story really cementing what I'd already begun to believe; that to claim the title of pro-life, one must value the lives of not only unborn children, but of everyone. I read a statistic somewhere about how abortions have declined in the last twenty years among almost all people groups, except those living in poverty, where the rate has steadily increased. To me, this says something about the values we put on the marginalized. Is it any better that a child can be born in the wealthiest nation on earth and still lack food, clothing, shelter, adequate health care or all four than it is that a pregnancy can be ended?
Your last question is so good.
Unfortunately, it has become so tightly tied in with political battles that it never really gets looked at.
Too many Christians have intertwined their faith and politics that you cannot tell them apart. Our FAITH is supposed to influence our actions (including politics). Our politics should not affect our faith.
But since the poor obviously need to suck it up, get jobs and stop having tons of kids, its really all their fault. -snark-
I can only pray that as our generation takes more leadership in the church that questions like this will be discussed and struggled with.
"Jesus didn't wage wars."
Amen. Good post.
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