I haven’t posted for several weeks because of a problem with my arm that makes being at the keyboard painful, but I had to break by silence just to note with both sadness and outrage the shooting of Dr. Tiller in a church.

The religious right and the so-called pro-life movement is condemning the shooting, but they cannot deny their responsibility in stirring up hatred.  I am sure that the nomination of a new Supreme Court Justice by President Obama triggered something in the irrational brain of the shooter who realized that Roe v. Wade was not likely to be overturned.

This from the New York Times  story

Dr. Tiller, who had long been a lightning rod for controversy over the issue of abortion and had survived a shooting more than a decade ago, was shot inside his church here on Sunday morning, the authorities said. Dr. Tiller, 67, was shot with a handgun inside the lobby of his longtime church, Reformation Lutheran Church on the city’s East Side, just after 10 a.m. (Central Time). The service had started minutes earlier.

I was saddened when I first heard a snippet on the news, but then to realize that he was shot in church added outrage.  How can the religious right call themselves Christian?

The photograph from the New York Times story shows a man laying flowers at the church.

I sure we will learn more about the suspect who is under arrest in the days to come, but tonight we pray for Dr. Tiller and his family.