The Holocaust Museum murder and the murder of Dr. Tiller at his church in Wichita share several characteristics: 1. Both men who have been accused of the murders have long histories of involvement with ultra-right-wing political-religious groups like the Christian Identity movement.
Both might, therefore, have been labeled "Christian terrorists" as various other murderers have been labeled "Muslim terrorists." There is a seed of truth in the labels -- IF we applied them to the majority religion as well to the others. There is, after all, a thread of blood woven in the fabrics of all religious traditions. Not only did the alleged perpetrators base some claim to legitimacy in their religious beliefs, but both attacks were aimed at sacred places: the Lutheran church in Wichita, one formally designated "sacred" by our customs; the other, the Holocaust Museum, treated essentially as a place of pilgrimage and awe even more than as a place of education. So in a deeper sense than the labels, we see that the mysterium tremendum that is at the heart of religious experience is somehow engaged in these murders.↧