Paul Gottfried on Tiller's Killer

I side with the Jew in his correction of some respected Catholics and other "right-to-lifers who are falling all over themselves condemning Tiller’s killer" — Righteous Zeal and the Killing of George Tiller. He "do[es] not applaud the slaying of Tiller," but he correctly states that "what was done was a profoundly moral but also reckless act."

"In Hebrew Scripture and under English Common Law," Professor Gottfried reminds us, "not all slayings constitute murder. The Old Testament, by the way, does not condemn all killing but only murder (rawtzach), which is what the Decalogue forbids (lo trzach)." He concludes, "The killer was not as reprehensible as the object of his wrath. And he is certainly a more decent person than the banshee Sebelius who is now in a position to abet and subsidize Tiller’s murderous successors everywhere in the United States."