Churches should be banned in parts of Atlanta, Buffalo,

[Nancy Waterman]

Wichita, and other places where Christian terrorists have killed people. At least, that would be consistent with Republican demagogic thinking of today.

From Wikipeida:

During the twentieth century, members of extremist groups such as the Army of God began executing attacks against abortion clinics and doctors across the United States.<37><38><39> A number of terrorist attacks, including the Centennial Olympic Park bombing during the 1996 Summer Olympics by Eric Robert Rudolph, were accused of being carried out by individuals and groups with ties to the Christian Identity and Christian Patriot movements; including the Lambs of Christ.<40>:105–120<41><42> A group called Concerned Christians were deported from Israel on suspicion of planning to attack holy sites in Jerusalem at the end of 1999, believing that their deaths would "lead them to heaven."<43><44> The motive for anti-abortionist Scott Roeder murdering Wichita doctor George Tiller on May 31, 2009 was religious.<45>

[ThomCat]

1. I was volunteering in Buffalo as a pro-choice escort

around the corner from Dr. Slepians office when i heard he had been assassinated by a Right to Life assassin at his home nearby.

Right to Life has been trying to Take Over Buffalo for months with their Spring of Life terror tactics, and we had been organizing through the Pro Choice Action Network trying to resist them. It was chaos, but we were holding our own. Still, we knew it was only a matter of time until they crossed the line int real violence. We all knew it was really coming. Every one of us knew they were capable of it. Every one of us was a potential target, and the doctors knew they were the most vulnerable.

We went toe to toe every day to physically block the protesters from getting near the patients entering and leaving doctors offices. We distracted them, got in their ways, argued with them to keep their attention directed at us, and did anything we had to do to keep women and their families safe.

In the end we couldn't do anything to protect a doctor from a fanatic. :(

I would never support blocking churches from being located anywhere. Even as an Atheist.

But blocking groups like Right to Life, that's different. I wholly support restrictions on where they should be allowed to organize and protest. Keep them away from Ob/gyn offices and doctor's homes. Keep them from stalking and harassing people anyone involved in providing or supporting family planning care.

Let's not mix these issues. That's a dangerous road to go down. :(

[Nancy Waterman]

2. I was being sarcastic about blocking churches

The point is that this is where the logic of the right wing would lead given their stance on the Ground Zero Mosque.

[ThomCat]

3. I know, but even joking about taking away civil rights is pretty serious.

:shrug:

[Nancy Waterman]

4. Uh, that is the point

Republicans do it blithley about Muslims but might understand it if put into terms about their own religious zealots.

[ThomCat]

5. Then we agree.

And I guess you can see my post as adding some context and background.

[Nancy Waterman]

6. OK. We agree

I loved Obama's statement. It cut right through all the demagogy. We need more of that kind of clean, clear statement about what this country stands for. It is like a clarion call amidst all the right-wing rubbish that is spewed.

My post was purposefully absurd because I think the parallel case about the Mosque is also absurd. We agree.

[catgirl]

7. They're probably the same ones protesting at funerals n/t

[ThomCat]

8. That is an entirely different church, even more rabid strain of

fundamentalist thinking. :puke:

They are definitely related. But in this case, the ones protesting funerals were not actually involved.

The church that organizes the protests at funerals is one church, I think coming out of Tennessee. They're real monsters. MuseRider knows the church and their history pretty well. It's from her area. She could tell you about them better than I could.

The Right to Life group is Nation Wide, in contrast, and organizes out of local churches. In Buffalo they organized out of the New Covenant Tabernacle Church. (I'm 99% sure I remember that name currently.) They also managed to also get the local Catholic churches to organize with them and help them too. But the Tabernacle people and the Catholics always worked separately so that it felt like a double assault coming from two different directions.

Edit: The New Covenant Tabernacle Church wasn't actually in Buffalo. I think it was in Ameherst or one of the wealthier burbs. Just to be accurate.