An Open Letter to the Children of the Army of God

To sin is human, to forgive divine. God forgives every single one of us every single sin we commit in public or in private. God asks us to forgive each other, but this message can be lost even on the most devout. In 2003 Florida gave the lethal injection to Paul Hill. Believers have turned him into a martyr and a saint. This man was not a messenger for God, he was a murderer, plain and simple. The message of his movement The Army of God is a pro-life organization that is committed to protect and preserve life at any cost. Lethal consequences were the result of Paul's actions. In this letter I ask the followers of the Army of God and those that seek to join them to rethink the path of violence. I ask you to forgive your fellow human beings for a sin only you think they have committed. I do not seek to change your mind on life vs. choice. I only seek to stir your beliefs away from violence and back toward the God you love.

The language of the Army of God is inflammatory hyperbole and rhetoric. Anger and rage is not the Christian response. The Holocaust was horrific but abortion clinics are NOT concentration camps. The doctors that perform them are not Hitler. The Supreme Court did not sanction genocide in the Roe V Wade ruling. Using this inflammatory language does not convince anyone, it only provokes the use of violence. Shock value only desensitizes the significance of the historical events. Everyone believes the Holocaust was a wrong, not everyone believes abortion is wrong, and most people will not logically believe abortion is akin to Hitler's genocide. The Army of God uses the message of anger, fear, rage, and blame rather then the message of love, acceptance and forgiveness. If you seek to convince a woman not to get an abortion, do not insult, demean, condemn or judge her. Speak to her with respect, love, understanding and empathy, this is Jesus' message.


God's Will is unknowable, and rarely understood in the moment. Anyone who believes and says he can understand and interpret the will of God is plain lying to you. God had a plan for Dr. David Gunn, John Britton, James Barrett, Robert Sanderson, and George Tiller. These men were God's children, and he loved them. They would never know Gods' plan for their lives because they were all murdered by those who say they cherish life above all else. They were not deserved of death, their deaths were not justified. Believers may feel they decided their own fate by choosing to perform abortions, they chose to provide a health service to women in need not to be gunned down in parking lot.


Killing someone is wrong, it's murder, it's a felony, a life sentence and for Paul Hill a death sentence. When speaking about his crimes Hill said this, "I thought I'd be filled with religious rapture, but my stomach was a bottomless pit." Paul felt this way because in his soul he knew this was murder, cold-blooded and brutal. If every life, even one that cannot survive outside the womb, is sacred then the lives Hill took are also sacred. Destroying life is acting against God. If you continue down the path of seeking violence you will become a criminal, an outcast, a social pariah. Your liberties will be stripped from you, and your beliefs don't matter in prison. Taking a life is a judgement you are not allowed to pass, an action you will regret, and a loss of your soul. Even if you plant a bomb that doesn't kill anyone you will forever be a criminal. Paul Hill did not save any lives, he took them violently and for this God and society punished him as they will punish you.

Violence is never the answer. There are so many alternatives to death and destruction. Open a counseling center, an adoption service, trying listening to the women who want an abortion instead of preaching to them. Understand and forgive those who do not agree with you. If you are moved to action, called by God to change the world to end abortion then become an activist. Activism is how we change minds. I don't believe abortion is wrong or a sin, I believe it's a choice. That choice can only be taken away by God, not by those that call themselves the Army of God. Violence was not what Jesus taught he would be ashamed of those killing in his name. Love one another and forgive all those who sin against you.