|
| |
|
Army of God: terrorist organization?
|
Act for Change urges:
Treat
The Army Of God as a terrorist organization
[12-14-01]
ACTFORCHANGE ACTIVISM UPDATE: December 6, 2001
-URGENT ACTION ALERT-
TREAT THE ARMY OF GOD AS A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION
It is way past time for the Justice Department to recognize that violent
anti-choice organizations exist rather than treating each murder and
threat as isolated crimes by individual disaffected men.
Yesterday, federal authorities apprehended Clayton Lee Waagner, a
self-described "anti-abortion warrior" who claimed
responsibility for sending hundreds of letters and packages professing
to contain anthrax to women's reproductive health clinics across the
U.S. and also announced his intent to kill 42 clinic workers in the next
few weeks. We applaud law enforcement for capturing this fugitive, who
Attorney General Ashcroft described as a "domestic terrorist."
However, Waagner and others like him do not act alone. Now is the time
to target the organization that enables Waagner, and men like him, to
carry out violent acts against innocent people.
Click here to take action.
Waagner and others are allied with the Army of God, an anti-abortion
group characterized by paramilitary tactics and linked to incidences of
murder, bombings, arson and kidnapping that date back to the early
1980s. The Army of God is responsible for distributing a manual that
supplies detailed instructions for attacking abortion clinics,
manufacturing bombs and cutting off the hands of abortion doctors.
The group also glorifies those who kill workers at women's reproductive
health clinics, like Paul Hill, a Presbyterian minister convicted of
killing two abortion clinic workers in Florida in 1993, and James Kopp,
who is charged with murdering a doctor in New York. The Army of God also
claims affiliation with the notorious Eric Rudolf, who is wanted in
connection with the 1996 Olympic Park bombing and suspected of 2 other
bombings in Atlanta.
**More information on the Army of God's activities, including a
fundraiser honoring the author of "A Time to Kill" (a manual
on anti-abortion violence) can be found at their web site (armyofgod.com).
Please note -- this site is extremely graphic and disturbing.
The Justice Department is at serious risk of hypocrisy if it does not
apply some of the same determination towards apprehending homegrown
terrorists and their support organizations as those that are based
abroad. So far, the Department of Justice has pointedly not focused on
these networks.
Given the FBI's history in the sixties and seventies of infiltrating,
surveying, provoking and entrapping a wide range of groups -- many of
them legitimate organizations of dissent -- caution must be applied in
urging the FBI to take more aggressive steps domestically. But the FBI
has been so alarmingly absent from the fight against anti-choice
terrorism that there is plenty of room to take steps without risking our
liberties.
By even cautious standards, the Army of God is clearly a terrorist
organization and should be treated as such by the Department of Justice.
Where possible, this should carry the following legal consequences,
similar to those imposed on foreign terrorist organizations:
 | It is unlawful to provide funds or other material support to a
designated terrorist organization. |
| U.S. financial institutions must block funds of designated terrorist
organizations and their agents and must report the blockage to the U.S.
Department of the Treasury. |
The consequences of continuing to ignore the violent anti-abortion
movement will be the continuing terrorization of reproductive health
workers and the denial of rights to American women.
Urge Attorney General Ashcroft to treat the Army of God, and others like
it, as terrorist organizations. Click here to take action.
Michael Kieschnick
President
Working Assets
|
| |
|
Some blogs worth visiting |
| |
|
Voices of Sophia blog
Heather Reichgott, who has created this new blog
for Voices of Sophia, introduces it:
After fifteen years of scholarship and activism,
Voices of Sophia presents a blog. Here, we present the voices of
feminist theologians of all stripes: scholars, clergy, students,
exiles, missionaries, workers, thinkers, artists, lovers and
devotees, from many parts of the world, all children of the God in
whose image women are made. .... This blog seeks to glorify God
through prayer, work, art, and intellectual reflection. Through
articles and ensuing discussion we hope to become an active and
thoughtful community. |
| |
|
Witherspoon’s Facebook page
Mitch Trigger, Witherspoon’s
Secretary/Communicator, has created a Facebook page where
Witherspoon members and others can gather to exchange news and
views. Mitch and a few others have posted bits of news, both
personal and organizational. But there’s room for more!
You can post your own news and views, or initiate
a conversation about a topic of interest to you. |
| |
|
John Harris’ Summit to Shore blogspot
Theological and philosophical reflections on
everything between summit to shore, including kayaking, climbing,
religion, spirituality, philosophy, theology, politics, culture,
travel, The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), New York City and the
Queens neighborhood of Ridgewood by a progressive New York City
Presbyterian Pastor. John is a former member of the Witherspoon
board, and is designated pastor of North Presbyterian Church in
Flushing, NY. |
| |
|
John
Shuck’s Shuck and Jive
A Presbyterian minister, currently serving as
pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton, Tenn., blogs
about spirituality, culture, religion (both organized and
disorganized), life, evolution, literature, Jesus, and lightening
up. |
| |
|
Got more blogs to recommend?
Please
send a note, and we'll see what we can do! |
| |
|
Plan now for our 2010 Ghost Ranch
Seminar!
GHOST RANCH SEMINAR
July 26-August 1, 2010
WE’RE
ALL IN THIS TOGETHER
CONFRONTING THE STRUCTURES OF INJUSTICE |
| |
|
If you like what you find
here,
we hope you'll help us keep this website going ... and growing!
Please consider making a special
contribution -- large or small -- to help us continue and improve
this service.
Click here to send a gift online, using your credit card,
through PayPal.
Or send your check, made
out to "Witherspoon Society" and marked "web site," to our
Witherspoon Bookkeeper:
Susan Robertson
9650 Clover Circle
Eden Prairie, MN 55347 |
| |
|
