The Scathing Atheist

by Noah Lugeons

It’s happened again. Much to the surprise of the evangelical pseudo-radicals, their vicious and careless rhetoric about “killing babies” has spurred one of their half-baked followers to seek an “eye for an eye”.

63-year-old Ralph Lang was arrested in Madison, Wisconsin late Wednesday night when he accidentally fired off a round in his motel room. The motel was conveniently located near a planned parenthood center where Lang allegedly intended to take the Lord’s work into his own hands.

This was not the first time Lang ran afoul of the law with regards to his anti-abortion lunacy. He was arrested in 2007 outside another Madison Planned Parenthood facility, where he apparently told the police that everyone in the building should be executed. Because apparently when Jesus said “turn the other cheek” it was so that you wouldn’t get blinded by the muzzle flash.

This type of psychotic, self-righteous rampage is far too easy for the mentally unhinged to justify. When they hear the venomous rhetoric of “baby-killer” from the trusted lips of their clergy and the horrific growl of their favorite talk-radio host, one should not be surprised that they take it seriously. We are mere days from the second anniversary of the assassination of Dr. George Tiller and yet the violent tone of the religious right’s balderdash has, if anything, amplified.

There is no doubt that we will hear from the apologists in the coming days. They will implore us not to paint every Christian or anti-abortion advocate with the same broad brush. They will accuse people like me of anti-religious bigotry (guilty!) for pinning blame on the mouthpieces that direct lunatics like Ralph Lang. They will distance themselves from this self-styled Christian warrior and say that they can’t be blamed for the actions of every lone lunatic out there.

But their arguments seem rather disingenuous. A few states away in nearby South Dakota and Nebraska the state legislatures have proposed laws that would expand the definition of “justifiable homicide” to include the murder of abortion providers. Until I see the churches organizing rallies to fight these proposals and marching on the capitol buildings of both states, I will discard their objections. When you fill people’s heads with the notion that a medical procedure is tantamount to murder you deserve the blame when those people take you seriously.

Ralph Lang actually believes that abortion doctors are out there killing babies day in and day out. If I thought there was someone, or worse, an organized group of people murdering babies, I would take my gun in hand as well. I’d like to think that I’d have the sense not to accidentally discharge it in my motel room the night before, but that happens to every guy as they get older, I suppose. The problem is the rhetoric. The problem is the terminology. When you start by accusing your opponents of being heartless murderers it’s gonna be tough to slip into a level-headed negotiation later.