New Republic Assistant Editor James Kirchick: "The Religious Right Didn't Kill George Tiller"

James Kirchick argues that "in the coming days, we will hear more about how mainstream conservative organizations and media personalities created an 'environment' in which the murder of an abortion doctor became an inevitability. Just as talk radio was blamed for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, an attempt will be made to extend the guilt for this crime from the individual who pulled the trigger to the conservative movement writ large. But the Christian right's responsible reaction to the death of George Tiller should put to rest the lie that Judeo-Christian extremists are anywhere near as numerous or dangerous as those of the Muslim variety." Kirchick pointed out the Mike Hendricks of the Kansas City Star has already accused "anyone who had criticized Tiller as a murderer (Tiller aborted healthy, nine-month old fetuses) of being an 'accomplice' to his death."
To read his article visit http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124398690567579389.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

The fact remains that soon after late-term abortionist George Tiller was killed, a soldier named William Long standing outside a Arkansas recruiting office was murdered by a convert to Islam opposed to the U.S. military. George Tiller's death has become a story that the media has become fixated upon and continued to report day after day. Yet the story of an Islamoterrorist attack against U.S. soldiers on American soil only merits the coverage of an everyday news story that passes quickly as the next story arises.

The reason for this seems clear to me. Focusing on the killing of George Tiller, a killing which represents a very rare occurence, is a method to partially blame the Christian "religious right" for the murder, and to paint all of the "religious right" with a wide brush as being extremists. It allows the perception that an underbelly of Christian fanatacism is to blame for the killing. If the media were to focus on the killing of Private William Long it would be viewed as creating the same perception about another religious group, that being Muslims. To focus on the killing of an American soldier by a convert to Islam might be viewed as painting all Muslims with a wide brush as being extremists and fanatics. Political correctness has determined that to be verboten. Christians, of course, are not to be held to that same standard.
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