On Making a New Pro-Life Martyr

Scott Roeder during trial

On Sunday Morning, May 31, 2009, Dr. George Tiller was attending service as an usher at the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, KS. Scott Roeder walked into the church then shot and murdered Dr. Tiller at point blank range. Three hours and 170 miles later, Roeder was found and arrested. As you may know from the headlines, Roeder believed he was saving children from imminent danger because Tiller was an abortion provider.

Today after a two and a half week trial, the jury took 37 minutes to deliberate and found Scott Roeder guilty of first degree murder. Now Roeder faces life in prison for murdering Dr. Tiller, or how I’m sure many see it, for saving the lives of “helpless children.” While I am of course happy that Roeder was found guilty, I also fear that this will make Roeder a martyr for what he has done. In fact, the Rev. Donald Spitz from Army of God has touted Roeder as a hero for saving the “lives of innocent babies scheduled to be murdered by George Tiller.” Obviously, the creator of this Cafe Press “design” agrees. Other organizations like Missionaries to the Pre-Born also commend Roeder as a hero. While these organizations may be small, there has been a growing number of people who discuss such murderers as Roeder as a martyr. Many pull on emotions related to the holocaust and compare abortion providers like Tiller to Adolf Hitler, stating that abortion providers are partaking in the “genocide” of unborn children. Not surprisingly, Roeder himself glorified Paul Hill, who was executed for the killing of an abortion provider and a clinic escort in 1994.

So where does this leave Roeder now? Will this recent conviction and upcoming sentencing make him even more of a hero? Will there be others who attempt to follow in Roeder’s footsteps to end the “genocide” and make themselves “soldiers of God”? Unfortunately, the answer is most likely yes. However, we can use Tiller’s death, Roeder’s killing, and this trial as a way of creating a conversation to agree on a cultural understanding of what life is. What makes someone or something alive? When does life begin? When does it end? To be completely honest, I doubt there will ever be an understanding of what life is, primarily because such a conversation never happens. In the interim, we can continue to work towards comprehensive sex education where we fully understand what is involved in an abortion procedure, and push towards a more peaceful understanding of religion where acts of violence are not tolerated, then we can continue to see a reduction in the murders of health care providers.

To read more on the trial and the verdict, click here.