Editing John Burt

Jump to navigation Jump to search

Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.

The edit can be undone. Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision Your text
Line 17: Line 17:
  
 
==Early life==
 
==Early life==
Born on [[March 26]], [[1938]], Burt was a Marine and divorced father who battled alcoholism and speed addiction before becoming a born-again Christian. He was also a member of the [[Ku Klux Klan]]. Although later dissociating himself with the organization, he later remarked on its similarities to anti-abortion groups:
+
Born on [[March 26]], [[1938]], Burt was a Marine and divorced father who battled alcoholism and speed addiction before becoming a born-again Christian. He was also a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Although later dissociating himself with the organization, he later remarked on its similarities to anti-abortion groups:
 
{{cquote|Get rid of the Klan's violence and racial bigotry, and I could work with those people. Fundamentalist Christians and those people are pretty close, scary close, fighting for God and country. Some day we may all be in the trenches together in the fight against the slaughter of unborn children.<ref name="towering">" Towering Over the Abortion Foe's Trial: His Leader." ''New York Times'', March 5, 1994.</ref>}}
 
{{cquote|Get rid of the Klan's violence and racial bigotry, and I could work with those people. Fundamentalist Christians and those people are pretty close, scary close, fighting for God and country. Some day we may all be in the trenches together in the fight against the slaughter of unborn children.<ref name="towering">" Towering Over the Abortion Foe's Trial: His Leader." ''New York Times'', March 5, 1994.</ref>}}
  
Burt and his wife Linda began their Christian street ministry in [[1978]]. Their ministry and women's shelter, [[Our Father's House]], was incorporated on [[December 30]], [[1981]].<ref>[http://www.sunbiz.org/scripts/cordet.exe?action=DETFIL&inq_doc_number=761278&inq_came_from=NAMFWD&cor_web_names_seq_number=0000&names_name_ind=N&names_cor_number=&names_name_seq=&names_name_ind=&names_comp_name=OURFATHERSHOUSE&names_filing_type= SunBiz.org record]</ref> After reading in the ''[[Pensacola News Journal]]'' that the number of local abortions nearly matched the number of live births (a figure elevated by the fact that Pensacola had the only abortion clinics in the region<ref name="wrath">James Risen and Judy Thomas. ''Wrath of Angels: The American Abortion War''. </ref>), Burt focused his ministry on stopping the practice.
+
Burt and his wife Linda began their Christian street ministry in [[1978]]. Their ministry and women's shelter, [[Our Father's House]], was incorporated on [[December 30]], [[1981]].<ref>[http://www.sunbiz.org/scripts/cordet.exe?action=DETFIL&inq_doc_number=761278&inq_came_from=NAMFWD&cor_web_names_seq_number=0000&names_name_ind=N&names_cor_number=&names_name_seq=&names_name_ind=&names_comp_name=OURFATHERSHOUSE&names_filing_type= SunBiz.org record]</ref> After reading in the ''[[Pensacola News Journal]]'' that the number of local abortions nearly matched the number of live births (a figure elevated by the fact that Pensacola had the only abortion clinics in the region<ref>James Risen and Judy Thomas. ''Wrath of Angels: The American Abortion War''. </ref>), Burt focused his ministry on stopping the practice.
  
 
==Activism & arrests==
 
==Activism & arrests==
Line 31: Line 31:
  
 
When [[Michael Griffin]] shot and killed Dr. [[David Gunn]] outside the [[Women's Medical Services]] on [[March 10]], [[1993]], Burt was accused by defense attorney [[Bob Kerrigan]] of brainwashing Griffin with graphic anti-abortion propaganda to the point of a "nervous breakdown" which led to the murder.<ref name="towering"/> Burt was sued in a civil lawsuit that was settled on [[July 3]], [[1996]], with Gunn's family taking possession of land adjacent to the Ladies Center that Burt had purchased in [[1991]] to protest the clinic without violating obstruction laws.
 
When [[Michael Griffin]] shot and killed Dr. [[David Gunn]] outside the [[Women's Medical Services]] on [[March 10]], [[1993]], Burt was accused by defense attorney [[Bob Kerrigan]] of brainwashing Griffin with graphic anti-abortion propaganda to the point of a "nervous breakdown" which led to the murder.<ref name="towering"/> Burt was sued in a civil lawsuit that was settled on [[July 3]], [[1996]], with Gunn's family taking possession of land adjacent to the Ladies Center that Burt had purchased in [[1991]] to protest the clinic without violating obstruction laws.
 
On [[February 26]], 1994, during the Griffin trial, Houston anti-abortion activist Daniel Ware arrived in Pensacola and notified Burt of his plans to mount a suicide assault against a group of abortion providers who were in town for a memorial to David Gunn. Burt sent him back to Houston and notified the authorities, who arrested Ware on weapons charges. Burt was shunned by some anti-abortion groups after this incident.<ref name="wrath"/>
 
  
 
Burt was also a known associate of [[Paul Hill]], who murdered Dr. [[John Britton]] and his bodyguard [[James Barrett]] on [[July 29]], [[1994]].
 
Burt was also a known associate of [[Paul Hill]], who murdered Dr. [[John Britton]] and his bodyguard [[James Barrett]] on [[July 29]], [[1994]].

Please note that all contributions to Pensapedia, the Pensacola encyclopedia are considered to be released under the GNU Free Documentation License 1.2 (see Pensapedia:Copyrights for details). If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly and redistributed at will, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource. Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!

To edit this page, please answer the question that appears below (more info):

Cancel Editing help (opens in new window)