A Call to Arms for 'Christian Terrorists'

Jan. 22, 2004 -- -- An anti-abortion activist, calling for a new wave of violence against clinics and doctors, is following the example of violent Islamic fundamentalists, telling those who share his views to become "Christian terrorists" and promising them a reward in Heaven.

"As cream rising to the top of the milk, so the Christian terrorist rises above the huddled masses of churchgoers and the many voices which denounce their violent attempts to defend the innocent from they're [sic] murderous assailants," Chuck Spingola wrote in a posting on the Army of God Web site.

"Regarding abortion the separation is clear. The CT [Christian terrorist] has the Word of God and a testimony of loving, albeit terrifying [to the wicked], actions," he said.

Spingola declined to discuss the statement with ABCNews.com without stipulations, but said he stood by the posting.

There is some question among academics and others who follow extremist movements in the United States about how seriously to take the rhetoric, particularly because none believe that such views are shared by more than, at most, a few hundred people.

"The hard-liners have become more and more hard-line, and I think they've lost most of their appeal even with the Christian right, which might share some of their views," said Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors extremist movements.

It is not a view likely to be shared by more than a handful of the thousands expected to march today in Washington in the March for Life, an annual protest on the anniversary of the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that made abortion legal nationwide.

Mainstream anti-abortion groups such as the National Right to Life Committee have praised the arrests and convictions of people involved in violence against abortion providers and released a statement that the group "strongly opposes any use of violence as a means of stopping the violence that has killed more than 43 million unborn children since 1973."

Spingola's language is shocking, particularly when he seems to express solidarity with people such as members of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda.

"One might ask what do the Muslims and Christians have in common? The Holy Bible and Koran both condemn baby murder and homosexuality as capital crimes," he wrote. "The radical elements of both religions are willing to do more than talk to resist the societal promotion of both these capital crimes.

"The foreign terrorists (Muslim) resist the imposition of the United States/United Nations charter, which promotes 'population control' (abortion) and 'diversity' (homosexuality), while the Christian/domestic terrorist simply resists the 'law' of the land, which promotes and often subsidizes abortion and homosexuality," he continued.

Extreme violence against abortion providers has dropped sharply over the last two years, though there has been no decline in the harassment of doctors and staff at clinics and women visiting clinics, according to the National Abortion Foundation.

The movement has been hit hard over the last two years by a series of arrests and trials of some of its most notorious adherents, and some who follow extremists say the "Christian terrorist" rhetoric is an attempt to rally new radicals to take the place of people such as Clayton Waagner, Paul Hill, James Kopp and Eric Rudolph.