Bible group scrutinized in Tiller killing

By Judy L. Thomas

Kansas City Star

Aug. 31, 2009

They met in each other's homes on Saturday, their Sabbath, for a potluck
dinner and Bible study sessions.

Among the topics: Scripture, their Hebrew roots and the "secret societies"
attempting to control government and culture.

Among the group members: Scott Roeder, the Kansas City man accused of
killing Wichita abortion provider George Tiller.

As the investigation continues into whether Roeder acted alone in Tiller's
May 31 death, members of the Bible study group have found themselves in the
spotlight, showing up on the witness list for the prosecution and being
interviewed by the FBI.

Even a rabbi at an Overland Park congregation of Messianic Jews has been
questioned, although Roeder's group broke away after some members were asked
to leave the synagogue.

"People are trying to make something out of nothing," said Michael Clayman,
an attorney who was host for the group for a time in his Merriam home.

"It was like any other Bible study around town. It was a bunch of guys
having spaghetti and meatballs, talking about philosophy. It wasn't a bunch
of Jim Jones people meeting or drinking Kool-Aid or plotting things. No
cult, no nothing."

The group does help explain the foundation of some of Roeder's beliefs,
which included distrust of government and opposition to abortion.

Those attending the Bible study describe themselves as Messianic Jews who,
unlike mainstream Jews, believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Some people who
call themselves Messianic Jews, such as Roeder, are not Jewish.

Messianic Jews differ from most Christian churches by observing many Jewish
customs, including dietary laws and holidays.

In a recent interview, Roeder said he "had become a believer" around 1992.

"I converted, born again to Christianity," he said. "I guess you could say
Messianic, or turned to Jesus, Yeshua, as my Savior." He said Messianic
believers such as himself had gone "back to our Hebrew roots."

Roeder said he preferred going to a Bible study instead of a more formal
religious setting because "organized religion is 501(c)3 tax-exempt
organizations, which are businesses."

"We stay away from them," he said, adding that religious organizations
receiving tax-exempt status become corrupt because they are beholden to the
government.

Roeder and other members of the Bible study used to attend the Or HaOlam
Messianic Congregation in Overland Park but split off, some said, because
the leaders did not want to hear their talk about Freemasons and other
"secret societies."

They also didn't approve of Or HaOlam being registered as a nonprofit
corporation with the state of Kansas.

Rabbi Shmuel Wolkenfeld of the Or HaOlam congregation confirmed that Roeder
and the others left over disagreements. Wolkenfeld said he hadn't seen them
for several years.

"We had such divisive conversations with them," he said. "Scott became
displeased with us because we were an incorporated Kansas charity."

He said the group also espoused conspiracy theories ‹ including an assertion
that Prince Charles is the Antichrist ‹ and that eventually, he and the
elders had to "uninvite" two of Roeder's friends.

"With Scott, we had a bunch of discussions, then he just disappeared," he
said. "I wish we could have helped him, but he had his own opinions."

Wolkenfeld said the congregation was shocked by Tiller's slaying.

"Our congregation is certainly pro-life," he said. "So for something like
that to happen is abhorrent. All it does is bring disgrace on the whole
cause."

Wolkenfeld said two Wichita police detectives paid him a visit after
Tiller's killing to ask about Roeder.

"What they said was they knew we had a history with him and they were
looking for any possible lead," he said.

After leaving Or HaOlam, the group began meeting on Saturday afternoons,
first at Clayman's house and most recently at an apartment in Westport that
Roeder shared with another man.

The man asked not to be identified because he fears losing his job, saying
he already had lost a new roommate who discovered his ties to Roeder.

The man said the Bible study was suspended after Roeder's arrest.

He said he last saw Roeder the day before Tiller was killed. Roeder told him
that he was going to visit his family in Topeka and didn't come home that
night. The next day, he said, the FBI knocked on his door at 4:15 p.m. and
started asking questions.

Agents took his home computer and laptop and also Roeder's computer, he
said, along with some Hebrew teaching tapes. He said he's met with FBI
agents five times since Tiller's death.

Tim Parks, who was Roeder's roommate for five years before Roeder lived with
Clayman, said he attended some of the Bible studies. He said, however, that
"I disagreed with a lot of that stuff." Some of the beliefs, he said, were
"kind of off the wall."

"To me, it's PFA theology," he said. "Plucked from air."

Parks said he isn't convinced that Roeder killed Tiller.

"A bunch of us think he is being framed," said Parks, who also has been
interviewed by the FBI. "To me, the entire judicial system is suspect."

Clayman said he met Roeder about two years ago while attending a different
Bible study group. He said Roeder lived with him for 11 months but moved out
April 1 because he'd lost his job and wasn't paying his rent.

Clayman said Roeder took the abortion issue to the extreme.

"Scott believed that the Bible was literal, the word of God," he said.
"Where he went astray was he had this crazy, fanatic doctrine that you could
somehow justify killing somebody just because they were an abortion doctor."

Clayman said Roeder talked often about his belief that killing an abortion
provider was an act of justifiable homicide.

"When he brought up that in theory ‹ but he never did threaten anybody when
I was around ‹ I said, 'How can you repay evil with evil?' " he said.

Clayman said investigators won't find any conspiracy behind Tiller's
killing, especially among the Bible study group.

"A Bible study is studying the Bible," he said. "We'd read from the Bible
and say, 'What do you think about that?' Then we'd discuss it. We didn't sit
around and have sacrifices in the backyard."

As for Roeder, Clayman said, "He's going to be tried, and he's going to try
and do a dog-and-pony show in front of the media. He wants to tell the whole
world. He's a martyr, see? That's what he wanted to be."

http://www.kansas.com/news/crime-courts/story/951075.html



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