God Sent the Shooter

Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church have their expected reaction to George Tiller‘s murder (PDF):

GOD HATES BABY KILLERS. SERIAL MURDERER GEORGE “TILLER THE KILLER” IS DEAD! GOD SENT THE SHOOTER! NOW TILLER GETS TO EXPLAIN HIMSELF TO HIS VICTIMS! WBC TO PICKET “VIGIL TO SUPPORT TILLER’S FAMILY AND FRIENDS”
(ENABLERS!).

Sun., May 31, 2009, 7:15-8:00 pm
Old Town Square, North Mosley & East
Douglas Ave., Wichita, Kansas

…

Bloody Beast Obama and his vampire-like cabinet member Kathleen Sebelius are to blame for the murder of Dr. George Tiller! They use their power and platform to enable him and others to kill millions of unborn or just-born babies. Tiller has killed some 65,000 babies, and thought he could do that with impunity. He could not have done this without the lying, slimy big mouths of these two evil little horns.

So pro-life Christians with their angry, exaggerated, hateful rhetoric now have this to deal with, too: they have to explain why they are not indirectly to blame for Tiller’s murder while dealing with the crazy Phelps clan hollering in the background.

Have fun with that.

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Richard Wade

Since the Human Hemorrhoid usually likes to blame the deaths of American soldiers on God’s vengeance upon a nation that does not kill all of the gays, I’m surprised he doesn’t say that abortionists are sent by God to kill babies for the same reason.
littlejohn

Fred may be a vile waste of oxygen, but I assume his antics embarrass his fellow godbots. He is to homophobes what Dick Cheney is becoming to the Republican Party.
Frik

I definitely understand why Phelps feels that way, especially given Tiller’s actions toward the unborn. However, this God that Phelps references would probably react with more horror to the actual living children that Fred Phelps has abused his whole entire life!
Justin jm

Since the Human Hemorrhoid usually likes to blame the deaths of American soldiers on God’s vengeance upon a nation that does not kill all of the gays, I’m surprised he doesn’t say that abortionists are sent by God to kill babies for the same reason.

I suspect that Phelps only doesn’t hate fetuses because he can’t harass them until they’re born.
llewelly

I definitely understand why Phelps feels that way, especially given Tiller’s actions toward the unborn.

Abortions are not performed for frivolous reasons. Many aborted fetuses would never have lived anyway. Many would have put the woman’s life at great risk.
A pregnant woman will naturally have a strong desire to protect the fetus and bring it term. This desire can only be overridden for serious reasons. It’s not something that is done between a pedicure and manicure.
When a woman is pregnant – it is that woman who best knows what her resources are, and whether those resources should be used to raise a child. It is her right – and her responsibility – to make that decision. No-one should be allowed to force another to carry a fetus. There is no right more fundamental – or more important – than the right to make decisions about one’s own body.

Finally – there are few sorts of human more despicable than those who want children to grow up with a parent or parents who cannot afford them, or do not want them. And that’s a primary result of those who oppose choice.
«bønez_brigade»

What the fuck does Fred Phelps care about another person’s baby? As far as he’s concerned, those babies are just going to grow up to be sinners/”enablers”, bringing about gØd’s wrath upon the planet with everything they do. Phelps’ philosophy is positively perplexing.
Elsin Ann Perry

llewelly, you are SO right on! Beautifully put. Thank you for your posting.
Nolan Wright

Sounds like religious fundamentalist terrorism to me…
Sa Janes-Pratt

It is mainly a problem of education.

Just as the mullahs have spent the last three decades training young Middle Eastern men and women to hate the ‘Great Satan of the West’, and to believe in the glory of martyrdom, etc., in their twisted view of Islam, tens of thousands of children in many parts of the USA are fed the same type of hateful, fundamentalist garbage.

As a child I was taken by my American father and British mother to New York, then moved to the deep South for my father’s work. The level of general ignorance I encountered there was, for me as a ten year old, not only incredible, but frightening. I became convinced that the rural South was (and still is) a welcoming, friendly breeding ground for human monsters. Phelps is, indeed, such a monster.

To have true compassion and to see through common superstition, children must be educated thus.

If we put just 10% of our weapons research budget into better educating our youth, our world would be much better off.

Until that time, we’re not much above being a country full of monkeys with guns.

Education.

Respectfully,
Sa
Beetle

@Frik,

As a pro-life atheist, you have an interesting perspective. Might you explain something to me I just can’t quite comprehend? I have never gotten a coherent response from a pro-lifer to this question, and I would really like to understand. I suspect you might be able to be a little more rational.

The USA tried having abortion illegal, and it was quite awful. An unmitigated disaster. A human tragedy. Really, really bad. How would making abortion illegal (again) not just be a repeat of past mistakes? Are we to make abortion illegal but, somehow different this time around? If so, how? If not, why work towards an end that is doomed to be worse than the status quo?

Thanks.
Reginald Selkirk

“GOD SENT THE SHOOTER!”

Sure thing, Phelpsie. But God also sent George Tiller in the first place. When you’re the omnipotent, omniscient super-being in charge, it’s hard to shuffle off the blame onto subordinates.
Stephan Goodwin

Via http://donklephant.com/2009/05/31/tiller-murder-suspect-is-scott-roeder-connected-with-operation-rescue/

Here’s the comment he left at Operation Rescue’s site, via Free Republic:

Scott Roeder Says:
May 19th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Bleass everyone for attending and praying in May to bring justice to Tiller and the closing of his death camp.

Sometime soon, would it be feasible to organize as many people as possible to attend Tillers church (inside, not just outside) to have much more of a presence and possibly ask questions of the Pastor, Deacons, Elders and members while there? Doesn’t seem like it would hurt anything but bring more attention to Tiller.

Also from Free Republic, looks like he has a criminal record:

July 7, Kansas: Scott Roeder is sentenced to sixteen months in state prison for parole violations following a 1996 conviction for having bomb components in his car trunk. Roeder, a sovereign citizen and tax protester, violated his parole by not filing tax returns or providing his social security number to his employer.

…

So he had a criminal record involving PLANNED TERRORIST ACTIVITY and was sentenced to less than a year and a half?!?!? People for whom we have no evidence have served far longer in Gitmo…ugh.
Cypress Green

Last night I told my husband about the murder. He was so disgusted by online comments supporting the shooter on Cleveland.com that he registered and posted. He never posts stuff. He’s still angry this morning!
Erik

Isn’t lying a sin? Surely Phelps knows 65,000 has to be a wildly inflated number. Tiller has been practicing medicine for 40 years. If he’d done abortions that entire time, he would have had to do 4.5 abortions every single day of every week of every year for 40 years. Seems rather unlikely to me.

With as much hate as people like Fred Phelps carry around with them, why don’t their hearts just seize up? These hatemongers seem to outlive their expectancy too often.
Luther

I can not believe in or support a god who would produce Fred Phelps. How can any sane person?

That would be more than enough for me. Of course I don’t believe in god(s) because there is no shred of evidence for any of these ridiculous, wasteful, and dangerous myths.
Leslie

You devalue your website and your words when you post quotes from uneducated, misguided people such as Fred Phelps from the Westboro Baptist Church

Associated Press – 5/31/2009 2:05:00 PM

…”The pro-life group Operation Rescue issued a statement denouncing the shooting. “We are shocked at this morning’s disturbing news that Mr. Tiller was gunned down,” said Troy Newman, Operation Rescue’s president. “Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice. We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning. We pray for Mr. Tiller’s family that they will find comfort and healing that can only be found in Jesus Christ.”
Leslie

U.S. BISHOPS EXPRESS ‘PROFOUND REGRET’ ABOUT SHOOTING DEATH OF ABORTION DOCTOR

WASHINGTON — Speaking on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, expressed profound regret upon learning of the shooting death of abortion doctor George Tiller.

“Our bishops’ conference and all its members have repeatedly and publicly denounced all forms of violence in our society, including abortion as well as the misguided resort to violence by anyone opposed to abortion,” Cardinal Rigali said. “Such killing is the opposite of everything we stand for, and everything we want our culture to stand for: respect for the life of each and every human being from its beginning to its natural end. We pray for Dr. Tiller and his family.”
Chelle

I found this amusing site by searching for the words Phelps and Tiller, sure that I would find out if the despicable Phelps would be trying to picket the funeral of that doctor. I was hoping they wouldn’t out of decency to the family (but we know that Phelps is not one for decency). I was actually starting to see some warmth and sensibility out of people whose worldviews are obviously diametrically opposed to my own, because I do believe in a sovereign G-d.

Then I see llwelly’s post.

So, llewelly, in your little world, the person that helped my mother decide to have me after all and cancel her abortion is on par with, say, a child molester or murderer. Despicable, you say. Wow.

Glad that my mother listened to reason and chose life, but I guess I’m just one of those throwaway Christians, who, worse yet, now chooses to live in the (egads!) rural South. Double jeopardy. Time for all of you to start practicing the eugenics that you are hinting at. Show your true faces. You don’t just hate the God you supposedly don’t believe in, you hate your fellow humans as well, don’t you?

llewelly Says:

Finally – there are few sorts of human more despicable than those who want children to grow up with a parent or parents who cannot afford them, or do not want them. And that’s a primary result of those who oppose choice.
Noboru Wataya (the cat)

Chelle, it doesn’t sound like it’s worth it to you to be on this site in the first place, so leave llwelly alone.
Anyway, Phelps and his cronies say very bizarre things: “evil little horns”, “bloody beast Obama”? Are they sure they don’t mean Sexy Beast Obama? Is this translated from a foreign language or something? As long as their announcements sound like this, no one even close to the mainstream is going to take them seriously. It’s like the written equivalent of those ridiculous pointy Klan hoods.