There is an interesting piece in Religion Dispatches pointing out that when the Muslim American killer of an army recruiter was being profiled in the press, his religion was identified as a key potentially motivating factor, but Scott Roeder’s religious connections are not being touched on to nearly the same degree in the discourse regarding his murderous activity.
On June 1, the New York Times ran a story, “Seeking Clues on Suspect in Shooting of Doctor,” an investigation into a little known anti-abortion activist, Scott Roeder, who’d been arrested for gunning down Kansas abortion provider George Tiller, as the latter handed out bulletins in the foyer of his Wichita Lutheran church. Apparently, Roeder caught the relevant civil agencies off guard. Though they knew of his outspoken anti-abortion views and his previous forms of protest, they did not consider him dangerous–a sentiment shared by Roeder’s fellow anti-abortion activists and family members.
As the Times headline suggests, there must have been something in Roeder’s background that everyone missed, which would explain why he crossed the line from protest to murder.
Read the piece here, it is very interesting.
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I’m sure the major factor in this is the preconceived notions by the segment of the population (I have no clue what %) that equate Islam to hate and bombings etc. A sad example of this is the comment section on the syracuse post-standard’s website on any story involving a Muslim that has done something bad. You pretty quickly get a number of “oh geez I thought Islam was the religion of peace” comments.
My guess is that the same people don’t have the same reaction when an anti-abortion person murders a doctor because they haven’t been conditioned to have the same revulsion to Christianity that they do to Islam.
A (very) minor complicating factor is that Tiller murdered the Christian doctor at a church, so some people are seeing that and not equating it to a religion-inspired act. If it had been an atheist doctor at home, I suspect more attention would have been paid to the murderer’s religion.
These, of course, are my thoughts about the public in general. In more specialized communities, such as scienceblogs, his religion and its influence has been noted.
I guess a tl;dr version: mainstream media is merely reinforcing previously set religious stereotypes. which sucks but, isn’t a surprise.
Even shorter version I guess: I’m in agreement with the linked article.
Of course his religion was the basis for the murder of Tiller.
Let’s not kid ourselves, the sole reason he committed this act of terrorism (and yes, it most certainly is an act of terrorism designed not only to stop Tiller himself, but to scare other pro-choice medical professionals as well as women considering their options) is due to his belief in an infallible deity who he believes condemns abortion and supports the murder of those who disagree…
Roeder pretty much was, once given those beliefs, put in an ethical quandary that many on the right seem to too easily weasel out of. I mused a little on this aspect recently and basically came to the conclusion that there really isn’t any easy way to both call Tiller a monster AND at the same time _fully_ condemn Roeder. Absolutist pro-lifers can make a situational case against killing abortion doctors extra-legally, but the case is inherently pragmatic, not absolutist, especially given that they all seem to accept the necessity of killing in other situations.
Related: I wasn’t aware of this, but hadn’t the recruiter killer recently traveled to school under a radical cleric in Yemen? I still get steamed these days seeing the right claim that an Islamic radical killing military recruiters is somehow a “left” version of the recent right wing killings, or even more silly, that it balances them out in terms of partisan craziness.
His religion is relivant on 2 points.
1-It is his self-justification to kill.
2-It will be the self-justification of the jury to get him off.
I would love to be on his jury…his self-justification would count for ZERO!!!!
If the evidence shows he killed the Doc then he is a murderer…PERIOD!!!!!
Could he get off??? Ask OJ!!! He will if the jury is selected just right. At best he may get a hung jury.
Even the Religion Dispatches article doesn’t answer the first specific question about Roeder’s religious tendencies that comes to mind: Baptist? Catholic? Presbyterian?
Is his Christianism so pure and concentrated that it’s just (as his ex-wife put it) “the church” and not an actual, you know, church?