George Tiller was a prominent abortion provider in Wichita, Kansas. He was famous for his willingness and apparent skill in performing late term abortions. Tiller was a strong willed person who did not shy away from media attention. He was a lightning rod for controversy and a favorite target of anti-abortion, psuedo-Christian groups like “National Right to Life, Operation Rescue. Even Bill O’Reilly used Tiller as a well from which to draw ratings. These groups would have loud, confrontational protests outside Tiller’s clinic shouting at the women going inside. The rhetoric was strong and often hurtful.
Lone, unbalanced individuals took many cues from these anti-abortion groups. Tiller’s clinic, along with others, was bombed repeatedly. Tiller had been shot by a deranged woman, Shelley Shannon in both arms only to return to work the next day. Tiller and his family received constant threats of violence. People who worked at his clinic needed the protection of U.S. Marshals to prevent them being hurt. Finally, his life was taken in the foyer of his church by a man named Scott Roeder.
Roeder said the murder was justified because of how many babies were being murdered by Tiller. Many agreed with him.
You see while only a few of the anti-abortion activists were outwardly violent; all of them were using intensely violent rhetoric. George Tiller the Baby Killer, George Tiller the Serial Killer, etc. The language and tactics being used by the anti-abortion crowd created hate and animosity. It wasn’t a great leap for Shelley Shannon and Scott Roeder to get to violence. The atmosphere and spirit was already there, they were just unstable enough to bring it out to its natural consequences.
George Tiller was shot and killed because of the violent atmosphere created by anti-abortion groups. Christians who used violent words to incite hatred toward Tiller share responsibility for his murder. Shannon and Roeder turned those words into a reality. Violent language puts blood on their hands.
Words matter.
Let us Christians not forget God spoke the world into being. It was words from Christ’s lips that calmed a storm. Our very faith is shaped and changed by the words of Scripture and the words of preachers. The written word and the spoken word are what allowed Adolf Hitler to rise to power with relative ease. Words are more powerful than we give them credit for.
They come with responsibility.
I don’t often talk of sin. I usually don’t like to get into such a murky area so fraught with guilt and anxiety.
But I will here.
Every anti-abortion activist that calls someone a murderer sins. Every person that calls for a violent uprising because they are unhappy with legislative action sins. Those that use their words to try to incite hatred toward the President or anyone else, for that matter, sins. Putting hateful, rude, damaging or divisive posts on the internet is sinful.
I am not saying expressing your opinion is sinful. I would never advocate taking someone’s voice away from them. I would never suggest that you not be allowed to express yourself.
It is how you express yourself that matters.
Violent, divisive and hateful language gets people killed. There is always someone waiting in the wings to turn your words into reality. We must always realize that we are called to be lovers. We are called to find ways to love even those we should hate. You must work to soften your responses to those things that offend you the most. Violent rhetoric is dangerous and has no place on the lips of Christians.
The saddest part of this whole blog post will be the people that read it, become enraged about abortion and miss the entire point.
growntolove 