Why Killing Abortion Doctors is Wrong – Part 1
The struggle against abortion: Why the use of lethal force is not morally justifiable.
Psalm 11:5 “The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence His soul hates.”
Over the years, acts of lethal violence have been used in an attempt to stop abortion doctors from performing abortions. Such violence has been perpetrated, in some cases, by those who seek to justify their acts on the basis of Christian moral principles. Dozens of violent incidents of other sorts have also occurred in and near abortion clinics over the past decades.
The aftermath of these violent acts has made it clear that the views of the perpetrators are not merely idiosyncratic, but instead reflect the perspective of a small number of Americans, some of them who claim Christianity, who are strongly opposed to abortion.
I am speaking today from a Christian pro-life perspective. Even though I share the moral condemnation of the killings that pro-choice groups and leaders have expressed, I want to take the issue further than the statements which they have made against these killings by discussing why they are not morally justifiable.
As a pro-life Christian, I am concerned about the possibility that some fellow pro-life Christian friends and colleagues may drift into and embrace violence directed against abortion providers. A lack of serious engagement with the views of persons who advocate the use of violence will only increase the risk that this drift will occur. My fear is that this violence will lead pro-life Christians to withdraw from morally legitimate forms of action to prevent abortions.
This statement, therefore, is intended as a moral analysis and rejection of the killing of abortion doctors, offered from a Christan pro-life perspective. It is at the same time intended as an urgent plea for intensified Christian involvement in all morally permissible forms of anti-abortion activities. We offer this statement in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord to any who will listen, and especially to our fellow laborers in the protection of the unborn.
MURDER IN CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
Murder, the culpable killing of a human being, is an extraordinarily grave offense against civil law as well as against the moral law of God (Exodus 20:13) on which all morally legitimate civil law is ultimately based.
The Bible teaches that each human life is sacred, for every human being is made in the image of god (Genesis 1:26-27). For this reason, each human life bears divinely granted and immeasurable value. Human beings are not free to take the lives of others, for those lives belong to God, their Creator. This is the meaning of the divine prohibition of murder in the Ten Commandments. ”Thou shalt not kill” means that God prohibits the unjustified taking, and mandates the protection, of human life.
In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:21), Jesus affirmed the prohibition against murder. Indeed, He warned of God’s judgment even on intense expressions of anger and contempt for others, while calling His hearers to seek reconciliation with any persons from whom they might be estranged, even their enemies (Matthew 5:43-44). Jesus also proclaimed God’s special favor upon those who make peace (Matthew 5:9). While wholeheartedly committed to the spread of the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:10, Matthew 6:33), Jesus personally rejected the use of violence to accomplish even this holy aim.
The Apostle Paul frequently reaffirmed the centrality of peacemaking and reconciliation, even describing God’s saving act in Jesus Christ as an act of divine peacekeeping between those who had once been enemies-an act that not only reconciled God to humanity but also reconciled estranged human beings to each other (Ephesians 2:11-22).
Paul also argued that the governing authorities of this world have been established by God. Their mandate in a world deeply marred by sin is to serve God by deterring wrongdoing and bringing punishment on wrongdoers, thus protecting the innocent (Romans 13:1-7). In this work, Paul writes, the authorities do “not bear the sword in vain” (Romans 13:4). Most Christians have understood this to be divine authorization of the use of force by governing authorities, even deadly force at times, when such force is finally required to accomplish government’s divinely mandated purposes. Through the centuries, strict criteria have been developed for the just employment of such force.
In Christian theology a historic split has existed between those who believe that the witness of Scripture prohibits any taking of human life under any circumstance by any person or institution, and those who believe that under the conditions of sin the taking of human life is in a very small number of tragic circumstances morally justifiable and thus morally permissible.
Those taking the former position could ground a rejection of the killing of abortion doctors in their uniform and absolute rejection of any killing of any human being under any circumstances by any person or institution.
While respectful of this position, we believe that the overall witness of Scripture, including Romans 13, leads to the latter conclusion-that there are indeed a small number of tragic and exceptional circumstances in a fallen world in which the taking of human life can be morally justifiable.
However, from our perspective, the Bible establishes a profound presumption in favor of preserving life rather than ending it. God wills that human beings should make peace with each other, should be reconciled, and should treat every life with the respect its divine origin and ownership demands. There is at the very least a prima facie moral obligation to refrain from killing. This means that an extraordinarily stringent burden of proof is imposed upon any who would seek to justify the taking of a human life.
To the extent that the United States civil law reflects the divine moral law, it likewise is structured both to deter and to punish severely the unjustifiable taking of a human life. Civil law does generally recognize that under certain unusual circumstances normally involving defense of self or third persons against the deadly force, the taking of another human life by a private citizen might be justified. A stringent burden of proof in every case rests on those who would justify any taking of life.
United States civil law is also structured to recognize the broader mandate of government to use force and the threat of force, judiciously and carefully, to deter and punish evil and to protect the innocent from wrongdoing. The government protects its citizenry from domestic wrongdoers through the law enforcement and criminal justice systems, and from foreign wrongdoers through the armed forces. Private citizens rightly are barred from authorizing themselves to perform these functions.
Those advocating acts of lethal force against abortion doctors claim that such acts qualify as morally justifiable homicide, despite the current status of civil law in the United States.
this assertion requires Christian consideration of the moral and legal status of the act of elective abortion, as well as the moral obligations of Christians living in a democratic society that by statue permits elective abortion under most circumstances.
Watch for Part 2: THE MORAL AND LEGAL STATUS OF THE ACT OF ELECTIVE ABORTION
