Murder in church = martyrdom?
Patrick O’Hannigan wrote a good piece in yesterday’s American Spectator. When pro-aborts want abortion to be a constitutional rather than a religious right, it is so. When they want it to be a religious rather than a constitutional right, it is so.
… I do not write to speak ill of the dead. My argument here is with the living.
More specifically, I have a quarrel with Rev. Katherine Ragsdale and those others who imply that anyone killed on church property automatically becomes a martyr. It presumes too much to hint that the crime scene tape used by police officers has sanctifying power, yet this muddle-headed version of “murder in the cathedral” seems to be the prevailing view…
Sadly, Ragsdale shares her peculiar definition of martyrdom with other progressive religious leaders. A rabbi named Arthur Waskow echoed her in telling a reporter that [George] Tiller was “a religious martyr in the fullest classical sense, killed for acting in accord with his religious commitments.”
That is a stunning assertion. People who think the Constitution tolerates abortion usually follow the late Justice Harry Blackmun in locating that tolerance among the so-called “penumbras and emanations” of a right to privacy implied by the 14th Amendment.
As a result, even sympathetic readings of case law leave abortion 2 steps removed from the actual text of the Constitution. Rabbi Waskow’s assertion eliminates one of those steps. By describing Tiller’s career in terms of “religious commitment,” the rabbi zips past the usual 14th Amendment “due process” jurisprudence to place abortion (Waskow calls it “healing with compassion”) under the protection of the First Amendment’s “free exercise of religion” clause….
[Photo attribution: freefoto.com]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Give me a break. The Palestinians took their rocket launchers to hospitals and schools. They used kids as human shields. Yes we should find safety in a church.. It is also for the fellowhip of believers. When we have unconfessed sin in the church, we can’t have revival.
Now to the point of irrationality. Roeder could hang out in a church and they could not arrest him. doesn’t he have the same protections as Tiller?
You would think the baby is in utero in the safest place on the planett. The baby is cornered.
With regards to one’s status as a servant of Christ let u contrast Paul’s statements about being in prison to Jesus statement about the Pharisees:
“Phillipians 14
12Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. 13As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.”
…contrasted to:
(Especially note verse 21, “swears by the temple, i.e., religious building or cathedral)
Matthew 23:20-35 (New International Version)
20Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. 22And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.
23″Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
25″Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27″Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. 28In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
29″Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!
33″You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.”
No, here is what our Lord thinks about buildings:
“1 Corinthians 6:18-20 (New International Version)
18Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
A rabbi named Arthur Waskow echoed her in telling a reporter that [George] Tiller was “a religious martyr in the fullest classical sense, killed for acting in accord with his religious commitments.”
There you go, the commitment to abortion is equated to a religious commitment. Aborto-fanaticism anyone?
…killed for acting in accord with his “religious” commitments.
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hmmm..makes one think…which current “religion”/ church DEMANDS human sacrifices as part of their commitments?
Give us a break. If tiller was dealing in a religious move, what was the gubment thinking about making laws around abortion.. The separation of church and state you know. why can’t rabbies do abortions? they do male trimmings?
For 35 dollars plus tips. (pun intended)
A rabbi named Arthur Waskow echoed her in telling a reporter that [George] Tiller was “a religious martyr in the fullest classical sense, killed for acting in accord with his religious commitments.”
Call it “aborticism”. The baby killing religion.
As a Christian I cannot tell you how vile and offensive I find it for someone to say an abortionist was acting on his “religious commitment”.
A “religious commitment” to me could include helping the poor, being kind to your neighbour and treat him or her as you want to be treated, witnessing the gospel, etc.
It’s DEFINITELY not abortion which I consider an abomination.
I was not familiar with Rev. Katherine Ragsdale who is referred to in the American Spectator story above, so I “googled” her. She is the president of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA.
From the Washington Times:
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/02/slain-abortionist-mourned-as-saint-martyr/?c=106028
St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in Boston held an evening memorial service where the Very Rev. Katherine Ragsdale, president of Episcopal Divinity School in nearby Cambridge, was one of several scheduled speakers.
“This is about the loss of a man who was a saint and a martyr,” she said in an interview before the service. “He was a prayerful man who put his life at risk to protect others and died for it. People are in shock, outrage and mourning. They need a place to go.”
Ms. Ragsdale said she once visited Dr. Tiller’s clinic in Wichita to defend it from anti-abortion protests. She has been excoriated on conservative Web sites for a July 21, 2007, speech in Birmingham, Ala., where she called abortion “a blessing.”
When will the 38,000 Christian denominations in the United States take a strong vocal stand against abortion? Not with violence, but with prayerful guidance in churches and through the media. Strong ecumenism could facilitate the end the abortion industry and a new respect for life in our country.
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From Martha, at
getreligion.org:
“An Episcopalian and a Rabbi declaring a Lutheran a saint – who says ecumenism isn’t working?”
Add “Catholic”, and most any other denomination to the mix and she’s got a point there. Sad, but true.
Yesterday, while talking about the weird protective circle around Tiller and his reputation, my husband called it a “cult”. Now, as the praise-him eulogies are spinning out of control, he just said “don’t be surprised if a memorial is erected for him”.
But really, excusing such a monstrosity is only a coverup for one’s own lack of moral compass. As always, with cult-like twisting of the truth: “don’t bother me with facts” surely applies here.