Abortion Facility Bomber Eric Rudolph Still Doesn’t Apologize

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jul 5, 2005   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Abortion Facility Bomber Eric Rudolph Still Doesn’t Apologize Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 5, 2005

Birmingham, AL (LifeNews.com) — Eric Rudolph, who firebombed an abortion facility in Birmingham, Alabama, still doesn’t apologize for his actions. Letters obtained by USA Today show he seeks his mother’s forgiveness for his actions, but he’s not interested in listening to those who hope to convert him to Christianity.

The national newspaper published a series of letters Rudolph has written, including one to his mother expressing his concern that she has to endure ridicule because of his actions.

"And even though I cannot apologize for being who I am and expressing myself in the way that I did, it troubles me greatly that you had to experience any hardships because of my deeds,” he tells his mother, 77 year-old Pat Rudolph of Florida.

"Despite my many flaws, I still hope that you can find it in your loving selfless heart to forgive me,” he wrote.

Rudolph is in jail awaiting final sentencing related to the four bombings for which he is slated to receive four life terms in prison. In addition to the abortion business and the 1996 Atlanta Olympic games, Rudolph bombed a nightclub that catered to homosexuals.

Rudolph has previously written a manifesto saying he has no regrets about the bombings, meant to display his frustration with the federal government. The USA Today-published letters show he hasn’t changed his mind.

"Perhaps I should have found a peaceful outlet for my opposition to the government in Washington: maybe I should have been a lawyer and fought (for) decency in the face of this rotten system; perhaps I could have taken up teaching and sought to inculcate a healthy outlook in a decidedly unhealthy society,” he writes. "But I didn’t do any of these things, and I resorted to force to have my voice heard. However wrongheaded my tactical decision to resort to violence may have been, morally speaking my actions were justified.”

Of Christians trying to get Rudolph to convert to Christianity, he says: "They have been so nice I would hate to break it to them that I really prefer Nietzsche to the Bible.”

Jim Pinto, a local pro-life leader in Birmingham, says Rudolph is out of step with the pro-life community.
"Let us be clear once and for all that he was never pro-life," Pinto said.

Rudolph’s actions "made it clear that he was in no way associated with the Pro-life Movement except that his actions were the direct opposite of it," Pinto, founder of Sanctity of Life Ministries, explained.

"We renounce violence in thought, word and deed and proclaim the sacredness and dignity of every human being from the moment of conception until natural death," Pinto added. "This sacredness and dignity of the human person extends to all people in and out of the womb, friend and foe alike."