Letters and Comments

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There were a couple of nasty letters and at least one nasty comment about religion and the abortion issue in yesterday’s paper that I can’t resist responding to.

The first letter asked “Who really killed George Tiller?” and proceeded to lay the blame everywhere but where it belonged. The pro-choice movement did not kill Dr. Tiller. The anti-choice movement did. I am not saying that Operation Rescue gave the killer actual aid in terms of buying him a gun or helping to buy the gas that got him to Wichita.

But I am saying that the constant drumbeat from so many in that faction that abortion is murder and that anyone performing abortions is a murderer and that murderers should be executed and that if the government won’t execute them, then private citizens should, provided the environment that egged on the likes of Scott Roeder to do more than picket outside clinics. Don’t get me wrong, however: the killer is the one who killed Dr. Tiller and he deserves to be punished to the full extent of the law.

The second letter was in support of the National Day of Prayer and against the lawsuit that has been filed protesting that the government sponsoring such an event is a step too far over the wall separating church and state. The writer says “Atheists do not have to pray if they don’t want to and their rights should not take priority over the rights of those who do pray and follow God’s way.”

This is inside out. If the rights of atheists should not take priority, then why should the rights of the religious take priority? There is no right to hold a national day when the government urges everyone to pray. The government’s endorsement of such a day does not mean that the day cannot take place. But the government’s endorsement of such a day does mean that atheists or other non-Christians are subjected to the prayers of the Christian religion. And don’t tell me that it's not just a day of Christian prayer, that Jews and Muslims are urged to pray in their way. When was the last time you saw a non-Christian leading any of these groups in prayer?

This is like the canard that prayer is no longer allowed in schools. The proponents of school prayer are not satisfied with the right of each student to say a quiet prayer before lunch or an algebra test. They want prayer broadcast over the school’s public address system so that every child is forced to say a particular prayer at a particular time. That is not freedom of religion. That is indoctrination.

Finally, there is the caller who says, “I am tired of all the Christians being bashed because of the killing of Tiller. It had nothing to do with the Christians. It was all from the devil.”

Have you heard any commentator bashing all Christians for the murder of Dr. Tiller? I have not. Even the ones who talk about the responsibility of the extremists who advocate murder as political free speech are careful to say that these are not the views of all Christians or all anti-choice people. In fact, I think the discourse over this issue has been remarkably free of vitriol.

I am not someone who sings in the choir every Sunday, but I do believe that everyone has the right to believe as they see fit. I do not hold ardent Christians in contempt. Why do they seem determined to hold me so? People who truly live by the example of Christ are to be admired and encouraged. But people who advocate murder in the name of God are to be watched carefully and punished when their actions step over that line.

And that’s all I’m going to say about that – at least for today.
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