“Random Acts of Violence”

I’ve been accused by friends, family and others of being a bit paranoid sometimes about theocracy and Christian nationalism, and there are times that I agree with them, then I run across something like this!

To unlawfully threaten or perpetrate violence to influence the behavior of others is the very definition of terrorism, and if Terry’s statements don’t constitute terrorism, I don’t know what does.  Using phrases like “God forbid,” and “We can’t be responsible,” he hopes to absolve himself of any blame or responsibility for what might happen as a result of his imprecations, but all he manages to do is sound like some Mafioso making an offer you can’t refuse.

Clinging to Their Guns and Religion

Last April, President Obama (then candidate Obama) was raked over the coals by Republicans and Democrats alike for daring to say at a fund-raiser in California:

“And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

He was speaking of people for whom government seemed to be not working and those who felt disenfranchised for one reason or another.  In spite of the political fallout from his statement, most rational Americans realized that what he said was absolutely true, and now his words seem to be coming to life across the country.  Whipped to a virtual frenzy by right-wing media, people are beginning to speak in terms that would have been unheard of just a short time ago.  They talk about taking the country back, and, for some, the means don’t really seem to matter.

The murder of Dr. Tiller

This is a short piece I submitted to my local paper, but they chose not to publish it.  Put too much blame on the Christian’s, they said.  Whatever!  The pro/anti-choice debate is, or at least should be, a church/state issue, and treated as such.  Obviously, the Tiller murder upset me a great deal, and part of the reason for starting this blog is to ease some of the frustration stemming from the limited access we all have to the public.

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Voltaire wrote:  “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”  He has been proven correct many times since he wrote those words; the holocaust, 9/11 and the cold-blooded assassination of Dr. George Tiller by a Christian terrorist are examples. All three have this in common: They were justified by blind adherence to dogma, which can be defined as a ‘point of view put forth as authoritative without adequate grounds,’ a point such as: “Abortion is murder!”

All of the zygotes, embryos and fetuses in the world don’t add up to a single living, breathing person.  That’s not just my opinion, that’s the law! In this country, we work within the system to facilitate change; we don’t use terrorism as a tactic to impose our own views of morality on our fellow citizens, the Taliban does that!

The murder of Dr. Tiller was the moral equivalent of a witch burning, perpetrated by an operative of the anti-choice movement for the express purpose of denying a legal procedure to desperate women who have nowhere else to turn.  When absurd dogma “justifies” an atrocity, especially one that some applaud, it’s time for reasonable people to say: Enough!