St. Vitus' Dance

Remember ghoulish freakazoid Gingi “Vitus” Edmonds? She’s a so-called Christian and pro-lifer who was last called out here for using the occasion of a tragic plane crash that killed several small children and their parents to slam their grieving grandparents.

Since Edmonds so crassly used that incident as a political football, doing a sack dance on the smoking wreckage of a plane in which an infant, two 3-year-olds, a 4-year-old, a 5-year-old, a 7-year-old and a 9-year-old child had died, I figured she’d be in full cheerleader mode at the news of the murder of Dr. George Tiller. She did not disappoint:

Murder is murder, and it is something that we pro-lifers inherently deplore. But I can't help but note - and my history is rusty so pardon me here - I'm trying to remember, did anyone mourn Lee Harvey Oswald when Jack Ruby gunned him down? Or better yet, did anyone mourn the deaths of Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer, or any other mass murderer for that matter?

Well, there was this one dude. What’s his name? He said:

Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despite-fully use you, and persecute you.

Oh yeah, that would be Jesus, whom Edmonds claims to serve. I’m not a Christian, but apparently I’ve forgotten more scripture than Edmonds ever knew. Here are a few more tidbits from her hateful screed to illustrate how completely she embodies the exact opposite of the humility, forgiveness and love her personal lord and savior instructed her to project:

I mean, think about it. Someone just shot a Nazi guard manning the gas chamber at Aushwitz. I should feel bad about this? George Tiller the Baby Killer's acts are every bit as vile as the Nazi war criminals who were hunted down, tried, and sentenced after they participated in the "legal" murder of the Jews that fell into their hands.

Is the pro-life position one of violence? Of course not. It is because we are so peaceful that lone acts of extremism immediately garner national attention. In the course of a 36 year genocide, only five abortionists have been killed.

While it is imperative that we extend love and grace to the family of Tiller, we still cannot afford to lose sight of the fact that George Tiller was a mass murderer of the worst kind who made a living off of killing babies and harming women. Unless you are radically against capital punishment, those who view abortion as murder agree that the penalty for the crime of mass child slaughter is death. And although the method and means of his execution is deplorable, the ultimate outcome is not.

There is no doubt that Tiller deserved to be executed for his crimes. I just would have preferred a state sanctioned lethal injection, hanging, firing squad, electric chair, good old fashioned stoning, what have you.

Read the whole thing, if you’ve got the stomach for it. While Edmonds goes through the usual throat-clearing about “extending love and grace” and “deploring murder,” her point is to excuse the killing and to exhort fellow pro-life loonies to not allow its occurrence to give them pause about the violence they regularly advocate and the demonization in which they routinely engage. And she’s not just a fringe lunatic – a “mainstream” leader of the pro-life movement, Randall Terry, took a similar position.

Americans are deeply ambivalent about abortion. According to a recent poll, a slim majority (51%) identify themselves as “pro-life,” but 53% support its continued legality, at least under some circumstances.

Even with an ostentatiously pro-life president in George W. Bush and solid Congressional control with pro-lifers Tom Delay and Bill Frist leading the charge, the political arm of the pro-life movement has been unable to do much to curtail abortion rights. I think people like Gingi Edmonds and Randall Terry are as responsible for that as NARAL.

Edmonds and Terry are Westboro Baptist Church with a more stylish haircut and less polyester content in the suit. Every time they open their yaps, the pro-life cause and Team Jesus take it in the shorts. So if you support abortion rights, if you dream of a truly secular society, wish them well in their continued endeavors.

[Cross-posted at Rumproast]