...judging from what he was actually doing at the time he was murdered. Serving (volunteering) in church is one of the tenets of the Christian faith.
(This diary started as a comment on another diary that was a response to Pastordan's diary. It got too long to remain a comment)
As a 5-year long Progressive Christian and a life-long liberal, I'm offended by the generalization of an entire faith. Frankly, that's the same thing Ashcroft did to Muslims after 9/11. There are serious debates and huge theological disagreements within Christianity, just as there is in any community, even here at DK (witness the recent banning of a popular individual).
The fact is, Christianity can work miracles in the lives of individuals, with one person reaching another person. I've seen it in my own life and surroundings, watching people get free from alcohol addiction, sex addiction, or otherwise. When people organize and start to say that they hear from God for an entire generation, and imply that they have a better understanding of what God wants for those individuals than the individuals themselves (who, thanks to Christ, have their OWN relationship with God), well, that's the spirit of the Pharisee and is just plain out of line with New Testament scripture. But people are fallible.
The gentleman that murdered Dr. Tiller committed the same sin his "leaders" accused Tiller of committing - murder. Scripture clearly says that all sin is equal, so he's in for a surprise. The original diarist calling him a "terrorist" is, I believe, a fair comment. However, the whole point of the NT is that we have to start loving people in spite of and even because of the sin within them. The Christian right is clearly operating like the Pharisees when they elevate obeying the rules (like old testament law) of being anti-abortion and anti-gay over the grace, mercy, and love of the Almighty. They may as well wash over Christ's death.
I'm sure to get flamed by some of the people here who suffer from the same closed-mindedness and ideological, theoretical viewpoint, just on the opposite side, that we see so clearly in the Christian right. Whenever we generalize an entire swath of people we lose our credibility - just like when DK is referred to as "the angry left." This Christian lives in California and voted against Prop 8 - why is the subject of another post. As is the fact that this Christian is pro-choice. I may not like abortion, but I would never take away someone's right to choose it. Just like President Obama, I'm in favor of legislation (sex ed, etc.) that is actually proven to reduce the number of abortions - it should not be outlawed.
Let's try and respect, no, love those who disagree with us. MORE SO in the midst of tragedies like this. That is, after all, the second greatest commandment. Perhaps if everyone (believers especially, but moral secularists and humanists too) tried to adhere to that ideal better, we wouldn't be here today.
(UPDATE: Per request, tip jar is fourth reply down.)