I’ve heard about but haven’t had much time to think about the recent murder of abortion doctor George Tiller. I know that “Pro-Life” personalities were quick to get in front of television cameras and denounce the crime, and something struck me as odd about that move, just as it always has. Halden Doerge, theo-blogger extraordinaire at Inhabitatio Dei, has been writing a very smart series of posts thinking about the ethical questions that arise when someone shoots an abortion doctor:
Abortion, Defensive Violence, and Moral Consistency
The Chimera of State Legitimacy
The basic dilemma Halden addresses is a legitimate one, namely why people who are not only pro-war but also tend to advocate personal ownership of firearms for private citizens’ killing people tend to get squeamish when private citizens take up firearms to protect the innocent unborn.? He smartly avoids the question of war (which obviously differs from vigilante action) in favor of the home-intruder question.? Many Christians I know say with some pride that they’d shoot to kill if someone were “threatening an innocent.”? Why, asks Halden, should that not extend to those who not only threaten but systematically kill the unborn?? His answers point towards the historical Christian ethic of nonviolence, and they’re all worth reading.
