Dr. George Tiller was murdered in his Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas yesterday (May 31, 2009). Dr. Tiller dedicated his life to giving women excellent health care and to defending the right to choice and to privacy of women everywhere. Amy Goodman of Democracy Now hosted a really wonderful piece on his life and work - if you have a few minutes, you should watch it.
Obama said, "However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence." --If Obama only cared that much about the countless babies who died at the hands of that abortionist...
ReplyDeleteA family member said, "Today we mourn the loss of our husband, father and grandfather. Today's event is an unspeakable tragedy for all of us and for George's friends and patients. This is particularly heart wrenching because George was shot down in his house of worship, a place of peace." Wow, how about the wombs that all of those babies were in? The womb is supposed to be a safe place of peace for a baby. But that monster would intrude and kill each one of them, with no remorse.
And I do not feel sorry for a family who loved a murderer. And I sure do NOT feel sorry for a church that had no problem allowing a murderer to attend.
Debra J.M. Smith
of
www.InformingChristians.com
I feel that you should get positive comments. So I say: Hooray for choice and freedom and women's rights and all that jazz!!
ReplyDeleteDebra:
ReplyDeleteThis is how I understand the work of Dr. Tiller. His work was predicated on the values of safety and health for women and babies. Many of the wombs of which you speak were already hostile environments for a fetus. Dr. Tiller treated women whose bodies were rejecting pregnancies and killing the babies. He treated women whose bodies were unable to sustain both themselves and another life. He treated women whose babies were forming without a brain and would be stillborn. He saved womens' lives, and saved them grief and pain of bearing dead children. Any termination of pregnancy is a tragedy, to be sure. But Dr. Tiller protected the health of thousands of women through his work.
Issues aside, I am saddened that you feel no empathy for his family and his church. These are people who have witnessed an unspeakable act of violence and hatred against someone they love. What kind of Christians would you and I be if we only held empathy for those who thought like us? For whom did Jesus hold empathy? For the unrighteous? For the prostitutes? For the unclean? For the outcast of his day? I did not agree with Dr. Jerry Falwell's interpretation of scripture, and was certainly uncomfortable with the hateful rhetoric he preached. But I don't feel any less for his family and those that loved him. Christ's call on us to be compassionate challenges us to identify even with our enemy; even with the one who stands for everything we do not.
I am open to further conversation with you, but please do not lodge character assassinations on someone who has just been murdered and on his grieving family and friends.
Grace and Peace,
Jamie Michaels
I had a similar conversation with someone about Dr. Tiller's murder. Your words are much more eloquent than mine. Thank you.
ReplyDelete