Evil begot evil Sunday when a man walked into a Kansas church and fatally shot a prominent abortionist. Two wrongs don’t make a right; they just make two wrongs. Killing a defenseless man in his church is no way to promote a culture of life. It only perpetuates the worst stereotypes of pro-life advocates.
Make no mistake: Dr. George Tiller was, at best, a misguided idealist who took the lives of countless defenseless children in the name of “privacy.” He acted within the legal bounds of the current system, but not within the moral bounds of the greater system. So while those of us who value life can hate his action, we’re called to love the person and pray for his redemption. Judgment, in this case, belongs in a higher court.
Ironically, Tiller’s family – which included a wife, four children and 10 grandchildren – released a statement that said: “This is particularly heart-wrenching because George was shot down in his house of worship, a place of peace.”
An unjustified killing is heart-wrenching no matter the place. And, indeed, a church isn’t just a “place of peace,” it’s a place to train and release those who create places of peace all over a community – homes, workplaces, parks. It’s awful that Dr. Tiller died at the hands of a murderer, but no less awful than the years he spent turning a clinic that should have been a “place of peace” into a house of horrors for innocent children.
