WICKEDNESS

This post, "Gravely Wicked", by Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, sums up my own horrified reaction to the murder of Dr. George Tiller:

Whoever murdered George Tiller has done a gravely wicked thing. The evil of this action is in no way diminished by the blood George Tiller had on his own hands. No private individual had the right to execute judgment against him. We are a nation of laws. Lawless violence breeds only more lawless violence. Rightly or wrongly, George Tilller was acquitted by a jury of his peers. "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord." For the sake of justice and right, the perpetrator of this evil deed must be prosecuted, convicted, and punished. By word and deed, let us teach that violence against abortionists is not the answer to the violence of abortion. Every human life is precious. George Tiller's life was precious. We do not teach the wrongness of taking human life by wrongfully taking a human life. Let our "weapons" in the fight to defend the lives of abortion's tiny victims, be chaste weapons of the spirit.

Professor George is absolutely correct when he says that we ae a nation of laws. Without the rule of law; without justice being blind to all considerations except for the nature of the act committed against another human being, then anyone can find justification for exactly this sort of terrorism and lawlessness; and I'm sure that they may even find some empathy for the motives that drove them to commit such grave wickedness--and even explicit support from some, not dissimilar from what CAIR does for their favorite terrorist murderers.

But they should never find it in the law, or in those who administer the law; because the actions of the perpetrator were evil, pure and simple.