Religious Violence and Abortion: The Gideon Project [Paperback]

Dallas A. Blanchard (Author), Terry J. Prewitt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 20, 1993

   Their detailed account of the nationally publicized trial and the fundamentalist Christian community's response to the bombings will be important and compelling reading for those concerned with the abortion controversy and other issues that encompass social violence and contemporary religion. 

   Scholars will be interested in the work as a comprehensive sociological analysis of religious fundamentalism, an ideology that the authors tie to a medieval world view. Placing anti-abortion violence in the context of social movement theory, they conclude that persons who are predisposed toward such behavior are likely to be working-class males under age 35, socially isolated from countervailing attitudes. Religious fundamentalists, they warn, will continue to utilize violence in reaction to such subjects as pornography, homosexuality, sex education, equality for females, and prayer in public schools. 

   For this book the authors conducted interviews with local activists on both sides of the abortion issue. They interviewed local religious fundamentalists, personnel of clinics throughout the United States that have been subjected to arson or bombing, and, when possible, persons who have been tried and convicted of those offenses. In addition, they attended the Pensacola trial and fundamentalist church services.
 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Blanchard and Prewitt, a sociologist and an anthropologist, respectively, at the University of West Florida, examine the anti-abortion movement through the lens of a case study: the 1984 Christmas bombings of three abortion clinics in Pensacola, Fla., described by its perpetrators as a "birthday gift for Jesus." Two of the Pensacola Four, as those brought to trial became known, were found guilty on all counts; the remaining two were convicted only of conspiracy. The authors base their account on interviews with the participants and related parties, as well as on their own observations of the trial. By relating the events both preceding and following the bombings, the authors put these terrorist acts into perspective, considering the links between religious ideology, political action, social isolation and violence. They detail how a series of local defeats for the religious right in Pensacola led to radicalization, culminating in violence, and examine the national context for the violence as well. The authors seek to understand the motivations of those who profess to be "pro-life" and yet engage in acts that cause death. Though sometimes a bit dense, this is a fascinating and timely study.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This is a carefully researched case study of the 1984 bombings of three Pensacola, Florida, abortion clinics on the same day. The authors, professors of sociology and anthropology, respectively, at the University of West Florida, use analysis of the trial and the convictions of four young religious extremists to provide insights into violence in general and religiously motivated violence in particular. They also use interviews and data gathered across the country to draw a profile of those disposed to acts of abortion-related violence. (Such individuals are likely to be working-class males under age 35 who are isolated from countervailing moral networks.) The authors are careful not to read too much into their data. Especially timely in the wake of the recent murder of a Florida doctor, this sophisticated sociological analysis of the extremist fringe of the antiabortion movement is worthy of thoughtful study by all participants in the abortion debate. For academic collections.
- John Broderick, Stonehill Coll., North Easton, Mass.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Florida; First edition (April 20, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813011949
• ISBN-13: 978-0813011943
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,101,599 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an important work of scholarship, March 5, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Religious Violence and Abortion: The Gideon Project (Hardcover)

Dallas Blanchard is the premier scholar of the antiabortion movement. This book is a necesary corrective to false assumptions made by many about the characters who perpetrate antiabortion violence. Blanchard provides a thorough review of the scholarly literature and thus the foundation for serious and nonpartisan scholarship about this violent and revolutionary movement. Religious Violence and Abortion, is a logical companion to such wider works on the modern Christian Right as Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy, by journalist Frederick Clarkson, Roads to Dominion, by sociologist Sara Diamond, as well as recent books by Jean Hardisty and Robert Boston.