Posted on 06/03/2009 1:20:21 PM PDT by NYer
ICHITA, Kansas, June 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Two American religious leaders have accused U.S. Catholic bishops of sharing the blame for the murder of Kansas late-term abortionist George Tiller because of their advocacy for legal protection for the unborn.
Tiller was shot and killed Sunday morning at a Wichita Lutheran Church where he was serving as an usher. The suspected murderer, Scott Roeder, was apprehended shortly following the incident. Reports have surfaced that Roeder suffers from mental instability linked to a schizophrenia diagnosis, and is believed to have acted alone in the murder.
In a Huffington Post column yesterday titled "How I (and Other 'Pro-Life' Leaders) Contributed to Dr. Tiller's Murder," Evangelical leader Frank Schaeffer apologized for his involvement with the "hate-filled rhetoric" he associated with the "religious right." Schaeffer is the son of the late, prominent evangelist Francis Schaeffer.
Earlier this year Frank Schaeffer, who has joined the Greek Orthodox church but is still considered a leader of the Evangelical movement, abandoned the strong pro-life position of his father and told an interviewer that he believes abortion should remain legal. Schaeffer said that thirty years of attempts to overturn the US Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade have failed and that the “black and white” pro-life position is counterproductive.
"The same hate machine I was part of is still attacking all abortionists as 'murderers,'" wrote Schaeffer this week. "And today once again the 'pro-life' leaders are busy ducking their personal responsibility for people acting on their words.
"The people who stir up the fringe never take responsibility," he continued. "But I'd like to say on this day after a man was murdered in cold blood for performing abortions that I -- and the people I worked with in the religious right, the Republican Party, the pro-life movement and the Roman Catholic Church, all contributed to this killing by our foolish and incendiary words."
Marquette University theology professor and former Jesuit priest Daniel Maguire published a statement on The Religious Consultation website lamenting the fact that Tiller was murdered "for honoring the law of the land."
"He is not the first doctor to so die and unless we get serious about this form of terrorism, he will not be the last," wrote Maguire. "Religious and political leaders who fan the flames of anti-choice, anti-woman fanaticism are not without guilt."
As soon as news of Tiller’s murder broke, pro-life and religious leaders across North America and in the U.K. issued statements unequivocally condemning the murder of the abortionist. (See all the statements here.)
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, like countless pro-life groups across the United States, issued a statement, saying:
"Our bishops' conference and all its members have repeatedly and publicly denounced all forms of violence in our society, including abortion as well as the misguided resort to violence by anyone opposed to abortion," said Cardinal Rigali, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities.
"Such killing is the opposite of everything we stand for, and everything we want our culture to stand for: respect for the life of each and every human being from its beginning to its natural end. We pray for Dr. Tiller and his family."
To contact Marquette University:
Rev. Robert Wild, S.J.,
President
Marquette University
O'Hara Hall, 101/102
P.O. Box 1881
Milwaukee, WI 53233
414-288-7223
414-288-3161 (FAX)
No, sorry. Its karma.
Ping
ALternate headline. “Two leftwing moonbats spewing bullsh*t again”
He still sounds like a Jesuit to me.
Where was the outrage after the Rodney King riots?
Both of these losers are just looking for attention. Let’s not give it to them.
The only people who consider Frank Schaeffer a "leader of the Evangelical movement" 20+ years after he left Evangelicalism behind are those who have an agenda to destroy it. Sad to see LifeSite News reporting this as if it were true.
Wonder what personal dirt Schaefer is covering up with his “change” in attitude?
The Pennsylvania Pro Life Federation issued the following regarding the horrible shooting of pro abortionist Dr. George Tiller:
“Through our local chapters throughout the Commonwealth, we will continue to safeguard the sanctity of life, particularly of the most vulnerable members of our society, including children in the womb, older Pennsylvanians, and people with disabilities,” said Maria Vitale, Education Director. “We will continue to work toward peaceful, life-affirming solutions for women facing the challenges of unexpected pregnancy, and we look forward to the day when all human life is protected.”
www.paprolife.org.
We stand by their statement and our only effort is in prayerful pursuit of abolishing abortion, baby stem cell research and euthanasia. We are committed against any act of violence and to murder someone is intrinsically evil and human life is holy. Human life belongs to God; it is His Creation and his prerogative to dispose of it as He Wills. Every human person has an intrinsic value and goodness, for each is a being made by God in the image of God.
Murder is an usurpation of God’s ownership of life, for human life belongs to God, is God’s property.
Life is not for human beings to do with as we wish. If we take a human life for any reason we must “act as an agent of God” such as “just war” or capital punishment...and I am sure these murderers are not “agents of God”
Frank
Citizens Concerned for Human Life, Inc.
I guess blacks and Muslims are to blame for the recruiting center shootings, right McGuire/Schaefer, et al?
Daniel Maguire had his 15 minutes a long, long time ago and most people probably already thought he was dead.
All the has-beens and never-weres are swarming out of the woodwork because they’re the ones Bambi is looking to for the creation of the New Improved American Catholic Church (where Bambi, of course, will be Pope).
They are both fringe kooks who are publicity whores. The MSM, of course, will eat this up. Neither of them represents any real constituency. To call Frank Schaeffer somehow a leader among Evangelicals is ridiculous. McGuire is totally isolated, has no impact at all anymore at Marquette but cranks out his whoring publicity stunts precisely because no one will take him seriously at Marquette.
It should be noted that theologian Daniel Maguire has been explicitly corrected by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops regarding his dissenting positions regarding Church teaching.
An evangelical “leader” posted something on HuffPo? If that wasn’t so satanic, it’d be funny.
BTW, Frankie tried for years to become a success in Hollywood as a director. His four films are listed on IMDB at the link below. Note that not one of them scored above 5.0 on the IMDB ratings (click on them individually to see their rating). Even mediocre films usually score a 5.0 or even a 6.0 on their fairly lenient scale. For a director to make four films, all of which fall below 5.0 is abysmal at an Ed Wood level of filmmaking.
Wow, I can count on the fingers of my two little hands the number of Jesuits who really are Catholics, the rest being classified as pompous jerks wearing Roman collars.
Franky's failure as an "Evangelical film director" immediately preceded his becoming Orthodox. I've argued elsewhere that his failure (and the ensuing phone calls from his evangelical backers) directly influenced his switch.
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