What is to Be Said When a Murderer is Murdered?
By Mark Noonan on George Tiller
The murder of abortionist George Tiller is, indeed, a tragedy though not, as pro- and anti-abortion people are painting it. For the pro-abortion forces, the murder of Tiller is a horrific crime showing how bad the anti-abortion mindset can be. For the anti-abortion forced, the murder of Tiller is feared to cause a pro-abortion backlash, at least in law, at a time when the Culture of Life is rapidly winning the debate. It is a horrific crime, and it will cause a backlash - but there is a larger issue at stake.
In Tiller we had a man who gathered vast resources, public and private, to provide protection for his business - which was, after all, the killing of unborn children even long after they were viable outside the womb. In his murderer we have a man who turned reason on its head and proposed to murder in the name of life. Both men thought they were doing good - and managed to convince themselves of this while they were planning murder. As a commentary on just how depraved our society has become, there is no better (or worse) example.
Tiller has now gone before the judgment seat of God and, in the by and by, we’ll all know how he fared there. His murderer will likely be sent there at taxpayer expense, either via execution or life imprisonment. And there, too, we’ll all eventually find out how he fares. I don’t presume to speak for God, but I do wonder if Tiller will be confronted with the children he killed, and whether his murderer will be asked about the children he could have saved, had he opened up a crisis pregnancy center rather than plotting cold blooded murder? It is said in the linked news story that Tiller once wore a button stating “Trust Women”; the irony was apparently lost on him who worked diligently to relieve women of the children entrusted to them. I wonder what pro-life things we’ll find among his murderer’s effects?
As Our Lord was being nailed to the cross, he asked God to forgive his tormentors, as they did not know what they were doing - so, too, I think, with Tiller and his murderer. Both men were trapped in a confusion of loyalties wrought by a century of moral relativism; neither could see the humanity in their victim, neither could remember that what one does to the least of these, he does to Our Lord. I pray God will forgive both men and I pray that those who are now attempting to paint Tiller or his murderer a some sort of hero will come to an understanding of what Life is, and what it is for.
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