O Death

Scott Hardie | September 3, 2003
In case you haven't heard, today is the execution date of Paul Hill, the first person to be executed for the killing of a doctor who performed abortions. (Here's one story about it.) Hill was a former Presbyterian minister who killed the doctor in Pensacola in 1994 outside his clinic. I count three ironies here:

1) This man is being put to death for killing another man because he was a killer, even though the other man was sworn to save lives and this man did what he did to save lives as well. (This is the saddest irony really, that we're punishing murder with murder with murder. As Martin Luther King said, the old law of 'an eye for an eye' leaves everybody blind.)

2) This has challenged traditional political positions. Ultra-conservatives who favor the death penalty but oppose abortion must now execute one of their own. Ultra-liberals who oppose the death penalty but support abortion rights must now seek to save one of their enemies.

3) Hill was a former minister, and claims he expects a 'great reward' in Heaven for what he did. Maybe someone should take this guy on a field trip to Alabama so he can take a look at that monument: What part of 'thou shalt not kill' does he not understand?