Is Scott Roeder a hero for murdering Dr. Tiller?

Anti-Abortionist Hate Speech Sparks Murder

This website has declared Merriam nutjob Scott Roeder a "hero" for murdering Dr. George Tiller yesterday in the lobby of his church. His murderer had a Jesus fish on his car. The irony is striking to anybody who thinks of Jesus as the "Prince of Peace." But this nutjob doesn't care about acting as Jesus would. According to someone who knows him, he is anti-government (they couldn't fry Dr. Tiller in court), so he took the law into his own hands. And he and other nutjobs think he did a righteous thing.

When I was in Sunday school, I was taught that Moses taught "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." But Jesus taught "love your neighbor as yourself," and "love your enemies." Love did not kill Dr. Tiller. The mental illness of one man plus hate speech from anti-abortion organizations killed Dr. Tiller.

On Steve Kraske's show today, Mary Kay Culp emphasized that she and Kansans for Life condemn this kind of action. I imagine Operation Rescue will issue a similar statement. Of course, they have to. But I doubt they are shedding any tears over Tiller's death. In the back room, I imagine they're giving each other high fives. Even if they didn't literally pull the trigger on the gun, they pulled the trigger on a nut who murdered Tiller after absorbing their constant inflammatory, hateful rhetoric against Dr. Tiller, Planned Parenthood and any other facility that provides abortions for women in need.

I hope for stronger restrictions and protections around any clinic that provides abortion and family planning information. I believe this will embolden other nutjobs to "go and do likewise." I hope and pray not, but I fear it.