My Question Is: What Do Agnostics Do?

Unrest in Iran

By now, most readers of this blog will be aware that the results of the Iranian election have generated massive unrest in that country. The likelihood is that this unrest is in response to a genuine attempt to steal the Iranian election. As Juan Cole demonstrates in a posting to his blog, Ahmadinejad almost certainly lost the Iranian election when one combines the supporters of his opponents with undecided voters who supported reform and would almost certainly back his opponents.

One can only hope that the opposition's supporters win out. This is not out of some fallacious hope that an opposition victory will cause all Iranians to suddenly love Israel or convert to Christianity. Rather, one should support the Iranian opposition out of a principled support for democracy.

Why George Tiller Matters

A letter to the Philadelphia Inquirer this Sunday suggested that the murder of abortionist George Tiller should receive less attention than the killing of Pvt. William Long outside of a recruitment center a day or so later. This letter is nothing more than an attempt to distract from one of the main problems facing this country-the continued threat of religious fanatics to civic society and individuals.

The letter writer, Robert Pallies, claims that the murder was inspired by the "hateful" rhetoric of the anti-war movement. (Hmmm...I always thought it was pro-war rhetoric that was considered hateful.) However, the anti-war movement has nowhere near the power of the anti-abortion fanatics. As mentioned in a previous post on this blog, Tiller had previously been the target of prominent media conservatives such as Bill O'Reilly. Pvt. Long had received no such targeting; he was in many respects the victim of a random attack by a maniac.

Perhaps the conservatives want to distract people from the fact that their movement is increasingly spawning violent extremists. They want us to ignore the fact that these extremists wish to impinge on everyone else's rights. We shouldn't let them.

The Real Murderers

This week's murder of abortionist George Tiller reveals the true face of the anti-abortion movement. As Dr. Marty Klein points out on the Carnal Nation website, pro-lifers such as Bill O'Reilly had repeatedly referred to Dr. Tiller as a baby killer on his daily news program with millions of viewers. Similarly, fanatic Randall Terry referred to Tiller as a "mass murderer" in an act of faux mourning for his death.

It's time we set up a new category of hate crime to cover those who use religion to advocate violence against pro-choicers. These Christian jihadists are a threat to civil society and modernity. It is time to fight back.