Immediately below is a video from last night's The Rachel Maddow Show. Once she introduces the overall topic, I will offer my opinion on one aspect of it.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
While I certainly do not agree that killing medical professionals who offer legal abortions is right, moral or ethical, I can understand how someone else might view this topic differently. If you believe that a viable life begins at the moment of conception and that those who terminate such "life" are murderers, then I can comprehend why you feel it is your duty to stop this act by any means possible.
Here is where the problem lies for me. People who either attempt or succeed at injuring or killing abortion providers try very hard not to get caught and, when apprehended, most go into court either to claim their complete innocence OR that their act was justified and, thereby, they shouldn't be punished at all.
This entire defense is very troubling if the accused is a Christian, particularly a fundamentalist. The person that their religion is built upon is the humble carpenter, Jesus. When Jesus was brought before the authorities, he didn't try to wiggle out of the charges lodged against him. Because of the courage of his convictions, he stood his ground and willingly accepted the punishment handed down.
In the last century, the two figures most closely identified with nonviolent civil disobedience -- Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. -- urged their supporters to violate laws they believed were unjust and, most importantly, to accept the punishment handed down by the civil authorities. Both, of course, applied this perspective to themselves and served as role models.
But few, if any, anti-abortionists follow this tack at all. They diligently try to avoid arrest. When brought before the civil authorities, they pull out every stop to try not to be held accountable for their offense. They even try to change the law, so that their personal convictions will be granted a big thumbs up.
If ANY of these people exhibited the courage of conviction like Jesus, Gandhi, King and many others throughout history, they would commit their acts and then willingly wait for the police to show up to arrest them. When brought before the courts, they would plead guilty and tell the judge that they will accept whatever judgment is handed down.
This is what genuine courage of conviction means: the willingness to give up your freedom and, possibly, your life for standing up for what you believe in. What we too often see in relation to the violent acts committed by anti-abortionists is cowardice of conviction.
Here is where the problem lies for me. People who either attempt or succeed at injuring or killing abortion providers try very hard not to get caught and, when apprehended, most go into court either to claim their complete innocence OR that their act was justified and, thereby, they shouldn't be punished at all.
This entire defense is very troubling if the accused is a Christian, particularly a fundamentalist. The person that their religion is built upon is the humble carpenter, Jesus. When Jesus was brought before the authorities, he didn't try to wiggle out of the charges lodged against him. Because of the courage of his convictions, he stood his ground and willingly accepted the punishment handed down.
In the last century, the two figures most closely identified with nonviolent civil disobedience -- Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. -- urged their supporters to violate laws they believed were unjust and, most importantly, to accept the punishment handed down by the civil authorities. Both, of course, applied this perspective to themselves and served as role models.
But few, if any, anti-abortionists follow this tack at all. They diligently try to avoid arrest. When brought before the civil authorities, they pull out every stop to try not to be held accountable for their offense. They even try to change the law, so that their personal convictions will be granted a big thumbs up.
If ANY of these people exhibited the courage of conviction like Jesus, Gandhi, King and many others throughout history, they would commit their acts and then willingly wait for the police to show up to arrest them. When brought before the courts, they would plead guilty and tell the judge that they will accept whatever judgment is handed down.
This is what genuine courage of conviction means: the willingness to give up your freedom and, possibly, your life for standing up for what you believe in. What we too often see in relation to the violent acts committed by anti-abortionists is cowardice of conviction.
Clearly they know down deep that killing the doctor is just as wrong as killing babies. Thus their lack of conviction.
ReplyDelete