EAUK do a very helpful Friday Night Theology email and page on their web site - find it here.
This week Susannah Clark has written on the appalling murder of George Tiller. Before our General Assembly I posted about the need to speak respectfully and lovingly towards one another. To murder someone, standing at the door of a church, because you disagree with his position and practice on abortion is an unspeakable evil.
I'm grateful to Susannah for her helpful comments, and I've copied them below. Please join me in praying for Dr Tiller's family, for the congregation where he was worshipping and for the Christian community in the USA where such things can happen.
The Murder of George Tiller
The murder of US late term abortion doctor George Tiller last Sunday, has sparked the debate again between the pro-choice and pro-life camps on both sides of the Atlantic. The murder suspect, Scott Roeder, was a member of a Christian group, albeit an extreme right wing militia group, prompting a Guardian headline, Terror in the name of Jesus.
Sadly, this is not the first violent incident in the US over this issue: to date 15,125 violent acts have been committed towards abortion providers, many carried out supposedly in the name of Jesus. Speaking on Tiller’s murder, Barack Obama said, "However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence." I for one certainly agree with that. And as many commentators have noted, the suspect may have viewed Tiller as a murderer, but murdering the murderer on the basis that you think he is a murderer is surely a contradiction.
While researching this article, I read some stories of women who have had late term abortions. As I read, I felt overwhelming compassion. Most of these are stories of women who have to make agonizing decisions, stories of foetuses with horrendous disabilities, unlikely to live more than a few days, stories of women who longed for a baby. Pro-life arguments against the decision to abort would include that to abort the foetus is to pre-judge God and that only God has the right to give life and take it away. Yet these women have found themselves in harrowing situations that I would not wish on anyone.
Jesus’ actions towards people though were not based on whether or not he endorsed their decisions and behaviour, yet sometimes we seem to think that ours can be. Jesus told us very clearly not to judge people, to examine carefully our own conduct, (Matthew 7:1) and equally clearly, he tells us that we are to love our neighbour (Matthew 22:39). Yet often we rush to make judgments and treat people depending on whether we think they’re right or wrong. In this case, such disagreement has led to violence, murder, abuse and hatred: at both Tiller and women attending his clinic. Such acts have no regard for their common humanity, as people made in the image of God. We may not carry out murder and violence, but how do we treat people whose actions or points of view we disagree with?
Jesus wasn’t afraid to tell people he disagreed with them and he did so out of love, to show them a better way. Sometimes they didn’t respond, but it didn’t mean he ceased to love them. He comforted the hurting, healed the broken, bound up the broken hearted, loved those who felt alone and abandoned, wept with those who were suffering and offered them hope and life. If we believe in a God of love, compassion and mercy, let’s be the first to demonstrate that to people: no matter what they’ve done, or what situation they are facing.
Susannah Clark, Public Theology Researcher
