Until I saw news reports yesterday, I had no idea who George Tiller was. For all I knew, he could have been a plumber, a teacher or a vet. As we all know now, he was a physician. Not just any physician, mind you, but an OB/GYN who was one of only a handful of doctors nationwide who performed elective abortions late term.
I am opposed to abortion. I am pro-choice but I am opposed to abortion. More on that in another post. For now I want to respond to the disturbing number of people who have condemned the killing of Dr. Tiller while implying that he had it coming. Called everything from a baby-killer to a mass murderer, Tiller was killed (assassinated?) by a "lone wolf" anti-choice radical who took it upon himself to meet out justice. Although no mainstream pro-life leaders have explicitly said that Tiller's killer was performing a Christian act, they have gone out of their way to use rhetoric that points to the "immorality" of Tiller's practice and the fact that he "reaped what he sowed." The implication is clear. This was a man who deserved what he got and his death is somehow divine justice.
Whatever you feel about abortion as a policy or moral issue, there is absolutely no way to justify murder. There is no Christian mandate to kill. I defy anyone to show me where Christ demands blood. Killing is a sin. What happened to Tiller is a sin. There is no such thing as a Christian assassin.
If you kill for Christ, you have quite simply missed the point.
