By Dan Mathewson
Posted on June 5, 2009, Printed on June 8, 2009
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/mediaculture/1533/ On June 1, the New York Times ran a story, “Seeking Clues on Suspect in Shooting of Doctor,” an investigation into a little known anti-abortion activist, Scott Roeder, who’d been arrested for gunning down Kansas abortion provider George Tiller, as the latter handed out bulletins in the foyer of his Wichita Lutheran church. Apparently, Roeder caught the relevant civil agencies off guard. Though they knew of his outspoken anti-abortion views and his previous forms of protest, they did not consider him dangerous—a sentiment shared by Roeder’s fellow anti-abortion activists and family members.
As the Times headline suggests, there must have been something in Roeder’s background that everyone missed, which would explain why he crossed the line from protest to murder.
Similar questions regarding the motives for murder apparently do not linger around the June 1 killing of an army recruiter, Private William A. Long, in Little Rock, Arkansas. The June 2 headline in the Times purports to give the “Report of Motive in Recruiter Attack,” and introduces the alleged killer, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, as “an American convert to Islam.” Dan Mathewson is Assistant Professor of Religion at Wofford College where he teaches about contemporary expressions of religious faith. He has authored papers and one book that explore such topics as biblical texts, trauma theory, American Evangelicalism, science and religion, and professional wrestling. His real vocational goal is to play in the NHL.
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