George Tiller, Abortionist Murders, and the Richard Dawkins Correlation

Considering the recent events pertaining to the murder of the abortionist George Tiller it seemed timely to revisit and repost this essay from True Freethinker's vaults which pertains to Richard Dawkins, abortion, terrorism, Christianity and radical Islam.
In his book The God Delusion (read it for free here good for using the Ctrl+F function) Professor Richard Dawkins correlates Christians and Islamic terrorists with specific mentions of the Taliban, Osama bin Laden and the perpetrators of the London bombings. One such mention reads as follows:

In illustration of the dark side of absolutism, I mentioned the Christians in America who blow up abortion clinics, and the Taliban of Afghanistan, whose list of cruelties, especially to women, I find too painful to recount. (pp. 301-302)

As i pointed out in the post The New (Emergent) Atheists, part 4 of 4 this is self-servingly convenient as Richard Dawkins allows himself to sidestep taking on radical Islam and simply focuses on besmirching Christianity from the UK and USA: safe, comfortable and lucrative countries premised on Christian principles.
Professor Dennett Daniel commits the same fallacy, and also without statistics, as he correlates, "Al Queda and Hamas terrorism" and also "the murderous activities of Hindu extremists" with "Christian" "abortion-clinic bombing."1 (see here for details).
Comments of this sort are peppered throughout The God Delusion. They have the effect of making the murder of abortion providers by Christians seem legion. But are these correlations valid?
For unknown reasons Richard Dawkins did not bother providing any statistics in support his claims; this scientist simply concocted assertions. However, being an true skeptic who is interested in fact, regardless of personal opinion, I conducted some research in order to ascertain "whether those things were so" (Acts 17:11).
Let us consider two terrorism incidents that have actually made it into the Guinness Book of World Records:

Largest Death Toll From Chemical Weapons Attack:
4,000 killed by Saddam Hussein's attack on the Kurdish minority at Halabja, Iraq.
Most Individuals Killed In A Terrorist Act:
2,823 killed on Sep. 11th, 2001, USA.

Next, let us consider statistics regarding terrorist bombings in particular:
Between January 1968 and July 2007 there were circa 19,683 incidents which resulted in 29,704 deaths.
According to the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) there were circa 14,000 terrorist attacks in 2006, which resulted in more than 20,000 deaths.
What about abortion statistics?
More than 42,000,000 (legal) abortions have taken place worldwide from 1973-2002.
To recap:

4,000 lives were taken in a matter of hours in one in Halabja.
2,823 lives were taken in a matter of hours in the USA.
29,704 lives were taken in four decades due to terrorist bombings.
20,000 plus lives were taken in one single year due to terrorism in general.
42,000,000 abortions have taken place in three decades.

How do these statistics compare with Christian murders of abortionists?
In the past 30 years in BOTH the USA and Canada there have been a grand total of 8 murders of abortion providers and there have been a total of 41 bombings.
Eight lives were taken over 30 years in separate incidents in BOTH the USA and Canada combined.
Moreover, prior to the condemnable murder of George Tiller there had not been one single murder of an abortion provider in a decade.
One can only wonder why Richard Dawkins did not delve into the statistics and we cannot discern his motivation unless he revealed it. However, one thing is clear statistically speaking, the correlation is clearly invalid. Richard Dawkins' ubiquitous correlative references are simply out of proportion by orders of magnitude. Yet, this correlation is continually recycled in various forms. If you read the post, "The top 100 impossible questions for believers of god" by Richard Dawkins' disciples - ANSWERED!, you will note that #73 makes the following correlation,

Presbyterian serial molester of toddlers, the proselytizing Catholic killer of abortion-supporting doctors, the Muslim who stones to death his daughter.

Another form of the corollary is Richard Dawkins' statement:

However misguided we may think them, like the Christian murderers of abortion doctors, by what they perceive to be righteousness, faithfully pursuing what their religion tells them. (p. 304)

In this case Richard Dawkins appears to have experienced a sadly rare moment of clarity in referring to "what they perceive," their perceptions are clearly misperceptions.
Anyone knowledge of the Bible's contents and contexts that goes beyond Richard Dawkins' various distortions of it knows that murder, bombings and arson are not part of the Christian message or lifestyle. Should we not then consider the perpetrators to actually have psychotically inspired perceptions of "righteousness" and "what their religion tells them"? Of course, a rational person would quickly come to the conclusion that they are psychotic.
But since admitting their psychosis would not allow Richard Dawkins another opportunity for anti-Christian belligerence he, in sadly typical form, denies the logical outcome of valid observation and turns again to his favorite subject-besmirching Christianity:

They are not psychotic; they are religious idealists who, by their own lights, are rational. They perceive their acts to be good, not because of some warped personal idiosyncrasy, and not because they have been possessed by Satan, but because they have been brought up, from the cradle, to have total and unquestioning faith. (p. 304)

Apparently, according to Richard Dawkins' claims; it is Christian abortion clinic doctor murderers who are the only ones who actually understand what the New Testament teaches. The only real problem is that they did not question the accurately taught biblical Christianity. But again, if Richard Dawkins would have bothered providing statistics, and one can only wonder if this scientist has even researched them, he and his audience (some of whom have unquestioning faith in him) would have been forced, by logical conclusion, to admit that 8 murders in 30 years in two countries is proof enough that the perpetrators are not in any way exemplary of orthodox Christianity.
The truly tragic aspect of Richard Dawkins is that he is so influential and has virtually endless resources at his disposal and yet, he appears to be much too controlled by his emotions. He may also be engaging, interesting, and the maker of emotionally charged statement but is far from accurate.
Let us also not overlook that no; he did not bother providing any premise upon which to base his condemnations of "Christians" who blow up abortion clinics, the Taliban, cruelties, or for that matter abortion. At least none beyond his personal preferences expressed as assertions in the form of arguments from outrage, arguments from authority, arguments for embarrassment, and the various other fallacies which constantly pepper his statements.

1. 1. Daniel Dennett, Breaking the Spell - Religion as a Natural Phenomenon (New York: Penguin Group, 2006), p. 299