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Opinion: The sword belongs in its sheath. Killing of George Tiller a ‘Malchus Moment’
Catholic Online ^ | 6/1/09 | Deacon Keith Fournier

Posted on 06/01/2009 6:00:53 AM PDT by tcg

All who know the objective truth about the dignity and value of every human life, from conception to natural death and at every moment in between, should decry this horrible act of violence. It must be unqualifiedly rejected and condemned within the Pro-Life community because of our unwavering conviction that every life, at every age and stage, has dignity and must be respected, protected and honored. This bedrock conviction should inform a “whole life/pro-life” ethic in those who gather under the banner of being Pro-Life.

A moral analysis tells us that the killing of a defenseless George Tiller is similar to the killing of every defenseless child in the womb who dies due to procured abortion. Both acts of killing are evil. Both must be completely rejected. Both should be decried by every person who is Pro-life.

We reject intentional abortion because every procured abortion is the killing of a member of our human family. The dignity of that little human person in the first home of the whole human race cries out for changing the unjust approach to giving protected status to intentional abortion in America. However, this dignity is present in all human persons, even those with whom we disagree and those whose actions we decry.

(Excerpt) Read more at catholic.org ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: abortion; choice; georgetiller; prolife; tiller
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To: soccermom
That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t address the fact that there was a law in place to prevent late term abortions and it wasn’t enforced. Meanwhile, those babies would continue to be butchered for at least another 3 years. At least Tiller won’t be doing them any more. And we can only hope no one will resume the business.
Trust me someone will. What you goobers don't understand is that folks *like* to poke you guys into doing and advocating stupid things. When you guys leave the rails it justifies even more draconian measures taken against *you*.

Mark my words, the anti-abortion groups are going to become awfully popular with LEO's needing to practice using their new armored cars and to relieve their hankering to shoot dogs.

121 posted on 06/01/2009 7:30:39 AM PDT by ketsu (ItÂ’s not a campaign. ItÂ’s a taxpayer-funded farewell tour.)
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To: MrB

You got it.


122 posted on 06/01/2009 7:31:19 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of Thy Mercy. .." Angel of Fatima.)
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To: soccermom
Obama called the killing of Tiller “heinous”. Did he really want to go there? When I think of what Tiller did for a living, and for which Obama elevated the governor of Kansas, the word “heinous” is the first word that comes to mind.

Obama says whatever he wants and gets away with it. My local newspaper hides most of Obama's true positions, which is why I don't subscribe.

123 posted on 06/01/2009 7:32:01 AM PDT by Dr. Scarpetta
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To: ketsu

When you resort to calling people “goobers” you expose yourself.


124 posted on 06/01/2009 7:32:32 AM PDT by soccermom
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To: Hardastarboard
The tree of Liberty must ocasionally be watered with the blood of patriots and tyrants ... and I (personally) can only pray God would accept ME, should I find myself in that proverbial rock and a hard place of making a decision.

Evil triumphs when good men do nothing ... and God hates evil.

125 posted on 06/01/2009 7:33:05 AM PDT by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true)
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To: ketsu

Do you see a basic problem there, tangentially related,

where we have a government and leos that seek to enforce such things on the people?


126 posted on 06/01/2009 7:33:17 AM PDT by MrB (Go Galt now, save Bowman for later)
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To: nonsporting

LOL! I almost changed it before I posted it, but I thought it would sound awkward to modern ears!

As for being imminent; “or certain.”


127 posted on 06/01/2009 7:33:23 AM PDT by ROLF of the HILL COUNTRY ( The Constitution needs No interpreting, only APPLICATION!)
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To: TomOnTheRun
I don’t believe it was unreasonable for the feds to assume that further violence might blow-up and take steps.

It was absolutely unreasonable.

The Freedom of Clinic Access (FOCA) Act signed by Bill Clinton in 1994 provided a level of legal protection to abortion clinics that isn't even given to military facilities in this country.

And this was in response to something like two or three attacks on abortionists -- among more than 20,000 murders every year -- in this country of 250+ million people.

128 posted on 06/01/2009 7:33:24 AM PDT by Alberta's Child (I'm out on the outskirts of nowhere . . . with ghosts on my trail, chasing me there.)
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To: Alberta's Child

> We didn’t see a spike in abortion cases after any of the
> four or five similar murders in the last 20 years, did we?

You misunderstood.

I didn’t mean to say that abortions would increase by Tiller’s murder, but that the pro-abortion argument would prevail for longer because of it, by way of marginalizing pro-lifers as murderous radicals as bad or worse than the baby killers themselves.

In the end, the inability of pro-life candidates to get elected to executive offices and appoint pro-life justices, the inability of pro-life judges to be elected where judges are elected, in the long run will cause more babies to be killed.

Now that Teller is dead, have any of his operations ceased?
No.

Have any of his abortion mills closed?
No.

Are any of his murderous peers likely to find something else to do, now that they have Federal Marshalls as body guards paid for by the tax payer, rather than having to hire their own?
No.


129 posted on 06/01/2009 7:33:40 AM PDT by Westbrook (Having more children does not divide your love, it multiplies it.)
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To: Mrs. Don-o
Tiller was a serial contract killer, some of whose killings were illegal even under the present aborton regime.

Tiller was on a level with so-called doctors who worked for Hilter and performed atrocities on the Jews.

130 posted on 06/01/2009 7:34:16 AM PDT by Dr. Scarpetta
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To: MrB

Yeah - and you let me know when the legalization of rape is on the next ballot and I’ll start working against it. In the mean time, why don’t we restrict the discussion to events which are actually happening and what should be done about it?

Our constitution only works if we accept the rule of law. The implicit assumption of it is that we accept legal means as the only means of change unless and until ALL legal means of redress have been exhausted.

If we do not respect the rule of law the constitution crumbles as so much worthless paper.

Why should I set the rule of law aside for this issue? What makes it different from other issues people are passionate about? Why shouldn’t I set the rule of law aside for any number of other things? Why limit ourselves to slaughtering just one man in church when there are so many other guilty ones?


131 posted on 06/01/2009 7:34:29 AM PDT by TomOnTheRun
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To: TomOnTheRun

Act as if you don’t get my point... fine.


132 posted on 06/01/2009 7:36:24 AM PDT by MrB (Go Galt now, save Bowman for later)
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To: Westbrook

On the other hand, his operations will be exposed for what they are. The public doesn’t like this kind of abortion.


133 posted on 06/01/2009 7:36:34 AM PDT by ShandaLear (I LOVE RUSH!)
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To: soccermom

“But stop being disingenuous about the notion that Tiller was merely doing what was within his rights. He wasn’t.”

I’m not saying Tiller was within his rights. I’m saying that he hadn’t been convicted. The legal means of addressing this HAD been thwarted but thwarted and exhausted are not the same thing. This could have been done legally - somebody just chose not to bother with that.


134 posted on 06/01/2009 7:36:50 AM PDT by TomOnTheRun
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To: nonsporting
Tiller was bound to murder again.

No doubt he had a full day of abortions to do on Monday morning.

135 posted on 06/01/2009 7:37:27 AM PDT by pray4liberty (http://www.foundersvalues.com/)
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To: MrB

Sorry if it sounded snarky MrB - I do take your point and I was trying to respond to it directly.


136 posted on 06/01/2009 7:40:13 AM PDT by TomOnTheRun
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To: TomOnTheRun

“Why should I set the rule of law aside for this issue? What makes it different from other issues people are passionate about? Why shouldn’t I set the rule of law aside for any number of other things? Why limit ourselves to slaughtering just one man in church when there are so many other guilty ones?”

Again, I don’t see ANYONE on this thread suggesting the rule of law be set aside. I don’t condone vigilantism. I am merely taking issue with the disingenuous notion that Tiller was operating within the rule of law. He wasn’t. And it is disingenuous to pretend there was any legal avenue left unturned that could have stopped him. A refusal to enforce existing laws was the issue.


137 posted on 06/01/2009 7:41:12 AM PDT by soccermom
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To: Dr. Scarpetta
“Tiller was on a level with so-called doctors who worked for Hilter and performed atrocities on the Jews.”

Even the NAZIs didn't do what Tiller was doing! The Japanese; maybe.

138 posted on 06/01/2009 7:41:52 AM PDT by ROLF of the HILL COUNTRY ( The Constitution needs No interpreting, only APPLICATION!)
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To: rdb3; Westbrook; xzins
Nothing could have advanced the pro-abortionist cause more, at such a delicate time when popular opinion was JUST beginning to turn against abortionism, than a “clinic” bombing or an abortionist’s murder.

Precisely. And this is why I think this murder was no accident.

RDB, I agree with you about 99% of the time. This, however, is the one percent.

There are two types of people: those for whom abortion is NEVER an option, and those for whom it is. Very few, if any, ever go from the former class to the latter. Conversion is almost exclusively from "pro" to "anti."

So, what exactly do you think will happen? Will some woman suddenly say to herself, "I wasn't considering an abortion before, but gee, now that they murdered that doctor, I'll do it!"? Even if Congress passes laws making access to the butchers easier, it would still only affect those for whom abortion was an option to begin with.

Sorry, I just don't see how this will increase the number of abortions. Nothing (short of forced, mandatory abortion) can increase the numbers except for more women deciding to murder their babies. I just don't see how this murder would change a single woman's mind or strengthen her resolve to murder her baby, if she'd not made that decision already.

139 posted on 06/01/2009 7:42:32 AM PDT by Terabitten (Vets wrote a blank check, payable to the Constitution, for an amount up to and including their life.)
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To: Westbrook
In the end, the inability of pro-life candidates to get elected to executive offices and appoint pro-life justices, the inability of pro-life judges to be elected where judges are elected, in the long run will cause more babies to be killed.

I don't agree with you at all. In fact, I think there's a good chance that people like the guy who killed Tiller are largely driven by their complete loss of faith in the political system you describe. Based on my conversations in recent months with religious, pro-life conservatives, I'd say that NOTHING has done more to set back the pro-life cause -- and demoralize the pro-life movement -- than having an allegedly staunch pro-life Senator like Sam Brownback stand up and champion Sebelius' nomination to head the Dept. of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C. People are rightly believing that they've been conned for years, and they are starting to change their approach to dealing with important moral issues like this.

Some of them become completely jaded about the political side of the pro-life movement . . . and, quite frankly, no longer give a sh!t who governs this country in Congress, the White House, the court system, etc. A very small number of them will take the law into their own hands and do something like what happened yesterday.

Now that Teller is dead, have any of his operations ceased? No. Have any of his abortion mills closed? No.

You sound like you have an intimate understanding of his succession plans. How do you know what is going to happen with his business operations?

Are any of his murderous peers likely to find something else to do, now that they have Federal Marshalls as body guards paid for by the tax payer, rather than having to hire their own? No.

How do you know that?

140 posted on 06/01/2009 7:44:42 AM PDT by Alberta's Child (I'm out on the outskirts of nowhere . . . with ghosts on my trail, chasing me there.)
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