David Fowler President

June 2, 2009

The murder yesterday of abortionist George Tiller has been roundly condemned by every pro-life organization that I can think of, and rightly so. Murder is murder whether the person is still in the womb or has survived the womb. We join in that condemnation notwithstanding our opposition to some of horrific forms of abortion practiced by Dr. Tiller. But there may be a deeper lesson for us to learn as we consider this act of violence and the growing tendency toward violence in connection with those who are political opponents.

In considering the act of violence committed against Dr. Tiller and his family, it is appropriate to consider what might motivate such acts and to consider whether the attitude of his killer is different only in degree from that demonstrated by others in connection with other political issues.

For example, in recent days, Loews Vanderbilt Plaza Hotel in Nashville cancelled a conference to be held there this past weekend called “Understanding the Jihad in Israel, Europe and America,” featuring a video presentation by Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders.

The hotel’s manager/director said the symposium was cancelled by the hotel for the “health, welfare and safety of our guests and team members.” He would not comment further. But one of the symposium presenters, Paul “Dave” Gaubatz, a former federal agent who is directing a major research project into activities of Islamic centers in the United States that “advocate terrorist acts against U.S. interests,” said that he’d been informed by conference organizers that there had been threats made to the hotel by unidentified pro-Islamic interests, and he had personally been on the receiving end of a number of threats himself.

And in recent months, the venom of homosexual activists has been on prominent display in California as harassment and acts of vandalism were perpetrated against those who financially supported Proposition 8, the recent voter initiative that made homosexual marriage unconstitutional in California.

Do not misunderstand, we are not comparing harassment and vandalism to murder. But surely political activities and discourse in these other areas could be as “chilled” by these kinds of threats as abortion activities and discourse could be “chilled” by the murder of Dr. Tiller. But as our nation coarsens and there are no truths other than those we create on our own, power is all that is left to determine good and evil, right from wrong.

In our post-modern culture, in our form of government, we now measure “truth” by the number of votes a political proposition receives. But we are learning that if we can intimidate our opponents into silence, this can be just as effective as outvoting them. But perhaps a tendency to resort to physical means of displaying power is to be expected.

Frederick Bastiat once said that when morality and law contradict one another, the individual had the cruel alternative of losing his morals or losing his respect for the law. We do tend to believe that what the law allows must be okay, for surely the law would prohibit that which is bad or evil. And surely the law would not prohibit that which is good and righteous. That is almost intuitive; just common sense. And perhaps in these events we see the truth of his statement borne out.

With respect to the murder of Dr. Tiller, at one time abortion was seen as an evil, and those who performed them were subjected to criminal prosecution. But with the decriminalization of abortion, our society began to see more abortions. Many saw and felt the tension between the law and their moral convictions.

Over time, those who grew up with abortion legal and common no longer had a moral sense that it was wrong. And if not wrong, then why would any particular type of abortion, like partial-birth abortion, be wrong? On the other hand, when the law allows something as horrific as partial-birth abortion, some perhaps begin to lose their respect for the law and, taking that disrespect to its final conclusion, it becomes justification for breaking the law, taking the law into one’s own hands—vigilante justice against persons like Dr. Tiller.

This is not to justify Dr. Tiller’s murder, of course. But we might serve ourselves well if we asked ourselves if there is something here to be learned by what we see going on. And if so, set about applying the lesson. Lest we become only civilized barbarians.