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Army Of God Terrorist Group Essay, Research Paper

Is it possible for one to believe in Christianity so much that he/she feels it is morally acceptable to commit sin to punish those who are the real sinners? The members of the North American terrorist organization named “The Army of God” obviously believes it is so. Having declared war on the United States of America the army of god has bombed abortion clinics and homosexual nightclubs in the name of God him/herself. This group is definatly no joke, it has produced three editions of its own terrorist manual and has many websites devoted to its cause. Additionally, the army of god has been linked to numerous terrorist activities, including but not limited to, the Olympic building bombing in Atlanta, Georgia and the bombing of women’s abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama. But, ask yourself, how can a group that is pro-life be pro-life if they are taking the lives of the innocent victims in each bombing they commit? In this sense the army of god is a terrorist group whose actions contradict its cause. Consequentially, this makes the group a very ineffective terrorist organization. Therefore, the army of god is an unsuccessful terrorist group, which is against abortion, which has bombed and kidnapped trying to get its message out to no avail since the 1980’s.

In 1973 the Supreme Court passed a controversial decision which effectively nullified all U.S. laws which declared abortion to be illegal, and most states had them. This was a landmark case, which gave a woman the right to choose on her own whether or not she wanted to have an abortion within the first trimester of her pregnancy. This was in 1973 and still today abortion remains a very touchy subject. If you were to go up to anyone on the street whether the person is a bum or whether he/she is a banker that person is going to have an opinion on abortion. Thus the U.S. government which was a target of violence and criticism before this critical decision has fallen prey to many activist and religious group’s outrages. The upstart of many women’s clinics has also fueled this criticism. Fore, it seems like nowadays that every couple miles or so you can find a women’s clinic and because of this there has been a growing concern that abortion is just becoming a fundamental part of a women‘s life. Thus, a larger more violent, more powerful, more determined group was bound to be established. This group is the Army of God.

The Army of God is just a North American terrorist group which has a strong religious background and also strongly disagrees with the notion that abortions are a woman’s right to choose.

History on the group is very scattered and also documented very little. At best this is what one can dig up the name the army of god has been used for the last 20 years. “In the early 1980s, a women’s clinic at Granite City, Ill., was mobbed repeatedly by fundamentalist protesters. Then the clinic operator, Dr. Hector Zevallos, and his wife Rosalee were kidnapped by a gang of men calling themselves the Army of God. The couple was held eight days in an abandoned ammunition bunker. The captors said they’d kill both unless Dr. Zevallos pledged to stop performing abortions. He did, and they were released.

Three men later were convicted of the kidnapping. The leader, Don Benny Anderson, said God had told him to wage war against abortion. Anderson got a 30-year prison term. He also was convicted of torching two Florida abortion clinics, and drew a second 30-year term.

In 1984, when a Norfolk women’s clinic was firebombed, the initials “AOG” were scrawled on a wall. Soon afterward, a clinic outside Washington was firebombed, and a man claiming to represent the Army of God called news media to take credit.

In 1993 an Oregon fundamentalist named Rachelle Shannon shot a clinic doctor at Wichita, Kan. She boasted that she was enforcing “God’s will.” She had written laudatory letters to an imprisoned “pro-life” killer, Michael Griffin, who had murdered a Pensacola doctor.” (Haught, 1997)

In 1997 “two more nail-studded bombs struck Atlanta — on Jan. 16 at a women’s clinic, and on Feb. 21 at a gay nightclub. After the second blast, a crude, unsigned, semi-literate letter was sent to the Reuters news agency, which turned it over to the FBI.

The letter said both bombs were placed by “units of the Army of God.” It said anyone involved with abortion “may become victims of retribution.” As for the homosexual club, it said, ungrammatically: “We will target sodomites, there organizations, and all those who push there agenda.”

In militia-like tones, the letter threatened both the United Nations and the U.S. government. With misspellings, it said:

“We declare and will wage total war on the ungodly communist regime in New York and your legaslative-bureaucratic lackey’s in Washington. It is you who are responsible and preside over the murder of children and issue the policy of ungodly preversion thats destroying our people…. Death to the New World Order.”“ (Haught, 1997)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation sent out copies of this letter (see pictures 1) in hopes that somebody would recognize the writing or the style and would turn in whoever wrote them. Eventually, Eric Robert Rudolph was convicted of the Atlanta bombings as well with the bombing in the Centennial Olympic Park in 1997. Rudolph has been put on the FBI’s ten most wanted list in hopes that someone will turn him in. (see pictures 2)

“The police are starting to realize there may be a network of support for violence against doctors and not just a single sniper. That’s why police are looking for James Kopp, a hero of the radical pro-life fringe. He was part of many demonstrations before he disappeared. He was no stranger to conflict, like all of those who take part

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