Christian fundamentalism, domestic terrorism, and political assassination

June 1, 3:09 PMPortland Humanist ExaminerMicha J. Stone

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Christian fundamentalism erupted into domestic terrorism with the tragic but foreseeable political assassination of Dr. George Tiller, a Kansas City physician and champion of women's reproductive rights. The assassination is the product of the hate and bile regurgitated by Christian fundamentalists. As such, these anti-abortion Christian fundamentalists constitute a threat to our national security; they are domestic terrorists.

Tiller, who provided abortions to women with problem pregnancies, has been the target of a vicious – and sometimes violent – campaign by extreme Religious Right activists who want to ban all abortions in keeping with their doctrinal mandates.

This February the Southern Poverty Law Center reported on the continued growth of hate groups, whose numbers have risen by more than 50% since 2000. It attributed that growth mainly to fears about non-white immigration, but pointed out that the rise of a black man to the White House also appears to have contributed. And it said the ongoing economic meltdown, which some have already blamed on racial minorities and undocumented Latino immigrants, could well add to a worsening situation.

Two months later, a prophetic Department of Homeland Security report, "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment," was leaked to the press. One passage from the DHS report that provoked nonstop outrage said that right wing extremists "may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration."

Although the government report was met with howls of outrage from pundits, politicians and others on the right, the truth now seems undeniable. Indeed, the right wing demagogues have been stoking the flames of discontent. Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Michelle Malkin, Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly are in part responsible for a climate of hate and intolerance towards those who believe in a woman's right to choose; a climate where some unstable lunatic would think the political assassination of a good Doctor was justifiable homicide.