This just in, from the Dept. of Things Posted on Monday That Are Still Relevant on Wednesday …

Frank Schaeffer, son of famed evangelical icon Francis Schaeffer, has published a searing mea culpa over at HuffPo for his role in escalating the rhetoric in the culture wars that he says is to blame for the death of Kansas abortionist George Tiller.

(It’s worth noting that this isn’t exactly a first for Schaeffer — he’s the author of “Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back” and has been on something of a nationwide public apology tour for a few years. That doesn’t make his mea culpas any less striking, however.)

From his piece:

The same hate machine I was part of is still attacking all abortionists as “murderers.” And today once again the “pro-life” leaders are busy ducking their personal responsibility for people acting on their words. The people who stir up the fringe never take responsibility. But I’d like to say on this day after a man was murdered in cold blood for preforming abortions that I — and the people I worked with in the religious right, the Republican Party, the pro-life movement and the Roman Catholic Church, all contributed to this killing by our foolish and incendiary words.

I am very sorry.