[Drango]

“Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”.

In this life Caesar has control of law, justice and punishment. God will recompense.

[BlueNgold]

Let’s see...
Even when we believe someone has committed a capital offense we guarantee them a fair trial. To kill someone because of your own beliefs is not justice...
No trial
No jury
No defense

He is trying to spin up an argument by taking the position that if you believe abortion is murder then killing the doctor is justified. Then when he gets people to agree to that concept he will cast all anti-abortionists as the kind of lunatics who advocate murder in place of justice. Beware the libertarian pot smoker who tries to make moral equivalences.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Killing abortionists is not wrong, it’s illegal.

[MAexile]

Yet if you honestly believe abortion is the murder of helpless children, it's hard to see why using deadly force against those who carry it out is immoral, especially since the government refuses to act.

Mr. Sullum needs to do some research.

The sole authority to execute lies with the state. See Romans 13:1-5.

If the state neglects in carrying out it's responsibility that does not necessarily give the individual permission to act. God will judge the state, and if you act outside your authority God will judge you too.

[wtc911]

Why isn’t the author out hunting down abortionists?

[MNDude]

If it’s wrong to kill an abortionist, could there at least be equal time of condemnation and sympathy for each of the babies killed by these abortionists?

Serious, I’m sure some of those babies felt pain, and I’m sure of them would have grown to be nice boys and girls if you got to know them.

[ml/nj]

enslavement of Africans or the gassing of Jews

People who think these two are morally equivalent are complete schmucks.

ML/NJ

[Ancesthntr]

Yet if you honestly believe abortion is the murder of helpless children, it's hard to see why using deadly force against those who carry it out is immoral, especially since the government refuses to act.

Nor is it sufficient to note that killing Tiller was against the law. When the law blesses the murder of babies, it is hardly worthy of respect, any more than laws blessing the enslavement of Africans or the gassing of Jews were, and violent resistance against such enactments surely is justified in principle.

I read and understand what was written. But who decides? You, me, McGee? See where this line of reasoning leads - to utter anarchy.

Nope, I don't buy it, and I don't agree. Did Tiller "get what was coming to him?" That's for the Almighty to decide, not any of us - certainly not outside the framework of a carefully structured (if imperfect) judicial system.

[MHGinTN]

Jacob, God has told us ‘Thou shalt not murder.’ God didn’t write ‘Thou shalt not kill’, He wrote specifically ‘murder’.

[Natural Law]

The Catholic Church and western civilizations have long held the concept of justifiable homicide. For the protection of one’s own or another’s life, limb, chastity, or valuables of some moment, it is agreed on all sides that it is lawful for anyone to repel violence with violence. If one cannot, within the legal framework, prevent the murder of the unborn killing an abortionist may be justified. While it is against man’s laws, it is probably not against God’s law.

[Huck]

Sure. Let’s all just kill anyone we think deserves it. Good idea. This guy is an idiot.

[Nuc1]

The article makes excellent points.

[trisham]

Leading pro-life activists are denouncing the murder

*******************

The reason is in the first sentence of the article.

[RoadKingSE]

Yet if you honestly believe abortion is the murder of helpless children, it's hard to see why using deadly force against those who carry it out is immoral, especially since the government refuses to act.

The NARAL'ers, NOW Nags, and pro-abortion advocates might simply consider Doctor (and I use that term loosely) Tiller's murder a very late term abortion..something on the order of the 204th trimester.

[Nosterrex]

The state has the power of the sword, and it is not for an individual to play God. Abortion is not new. Christians have had to endure worse things than this, and it did it without killing others. We are told not to repay evil with evil, for vengeance is mine says the Lord. The type of action that you are talking about is closer to Islam than Christianity. Let's call a holy war on all sinners and kill them. Why stop with abortionist?

[Responsibility2nd]

In a nation where laws have been perveted. And justice has been twisted. And right and wrong has no clear meaning.....

Vigilantism will prevail.

I'm only surprised abortionists aren't murdered every day,

[Mikey_1962]

It’s probably all in the timing.

[Tamar1973]

How is it possible to believe that fetuses are people with a right to life yet also believe that using deadly force to defend that right is wrong?

Because vigilantism is against US Law and Biblical law as well.

[BuddhaBrown]

Never heard of Jacob Sullum.

But if he's NOT actually working for Janet Napolitano in an effort to make her seem correct, then he should keep an eye out for her in his rear view mirror.

There may be some misguided, non-Christian folk who think it logical or morally acceptable to commit vigilante murder against a baby killer. But certainly no studied Christian should fall prey to that false doctrine.

By the author's logic, anyone against any of the wars we're currently fighting has the moral authority to kill Army recruiters in Little Rock, Ark. as well.

And if individual Christians are expected to personally be God's enforcers of His law - even against those who might not be believers - then why should we be expected to kill only the contract killer doctors involved? Why not kill the mothers who ordered the hit on their own kids in the first place? Or the SC justices/legislators/etc. that created and encourage the phony "right" to abortion?

Should we Christians all be starting to gather stones to hurl at the homos and adulterers in general. I guess I'd best limber up, a thorough stoning sometimes takes a while and there are literally millions of Americans who deserve it by God's standard. And I'd best get fitted for a helmet myself.

Spreading knowledge and creating a legal environment that prevents the killing of innocents is within our earthly control - and not that far from being accomplished as recent polls indicate. But this act was not justice, as some seem to imply here. It was vengeance and ...

Vengeance belongs to the Lord.

[fr_freak]

What people need to remember is that every single law in this land, from the Constitution to the most minor municipal statute, is worthless without men willing to enforce it. For regular laws, we have entire government organizations willing to enforce the law, but what do we have to enforce the the Constitution or any other law when the government itself disobeys or ignores them? The Founders intended for the ultimate power to rest with the people, and when the government failed to do its job or when it attempted to usurp power, the people were the ultimate enforcers. So, the argument that the common man, in this country, should cede all of his moral authority to the state is decidedly incorrect.

In the old days in this country, someone like Tiller would have ended up swinging from a tree in short order if the authorities failed to stop him. However, back then, the authorities more closely reflected their constituencies. Now, they do not. The common American cannot count on the authorities, even the local ones, to reflect any community values at all. Dictates come down from D.C., and a national parties dictate to local politicians what values they will uphold. Our system is broken.

Tiller, a long time ago, should have been afraid to continue his barbaric practice anywhere for fear of the wrath of the local populace. Instead, Americans have abdicated their right and responsibility to defend themselves to government, and now use the fact that government doesn't support them as an excuse not to act. If you are waiting for the government to step in and defend what is right and do what is right, you will be waiting for eternity.