A letter purportedly sent by an ultra-fundamentalist group called the Army of God claimed responsibility for the February 22 bombing of a lesbian nightclub and January’s attack on an Atlanta abortion clinic.
According to the Los Angeles Times News Service, federal investigators were attempting to determine if the letter was legitimate.
A spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said it was too early to tell whether the claim was accurate. A Los Angeles neo-Nazi club has also apparently claimed responsibility for the lesbian club bomb.
The spokesman said there was no way to know for certain whether the letter writer was really affiliated with the so-called Army of God, which has been blamed for a number of crimes against abortion-performing doctors and clinics across the country.
The two-page, handwritten letter threatened “total war” against federal government and promised additional attacks on homosexuals and their supporters. The letter also cited abortion as the murder of 3.5 million children each year in the U.S. and said the practice would not be tolerated.
Mary Ann Mauney, research director for the Centre for Democratic Renewal, an Atlanta-based organization monitoring hate groups, said three men calling themselves the Army of God kidnapped an Illinois doctor and his wife in 1982. Two years later, the group was blamed for bombing two abortion clinics in Virginia, she said.
The group also has published a manual that provides detailed information on how to make bombs and use other means to destroy abortion clinics.
The manual is purported to describe abortion as “the child-killing industry of Amerika (sic)” and offers advice on how to make war on abortion providers.
Until now, the group has not been known to take responsibility for any action against lesbian or gay gathering places.
The existence of such extremist groups is of concern to legitimate pro-life organizations.
Any fanatical actions undertaken by these groups are seized by abortion supporters to tarnish the entire pro-life movement in North America.
The problem is made worse by the secular media which to date has uncritically accepted the link between the pro-life movement and violence.
– LA Times News Service