Subject: [AthofSV] FFRF News: Playing Political Football

From: "Gary Berger" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 23:07:23 +0000

The following news release can also be found at the following link:

http://ffrf.org/news/2005/schiavo.php

Brain-dead Ethics?

Playing Political Football

March 21, 2005

Statement by Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker, co-presidents, Freedom From 
Religion Foundation

The United States as a Christian-permeated culture is in deep denial about 
death. Consequently we deny the dying and terminally ill the right to die 
with dignity, often inflicting needless suffering and pain, or a nightmare 
existence in limbo, upon the helplessly ill. We do this in the name of 
protecting "life" even when such life no longer has a future or meaning.

Throughout history, religionists have decried medical advances and 
technology as "unnatural." It was "unnatural" to use anesthesia to ease 
childbirth pains and defy the Genesis curse. Contraception is still 
condemned by the Roman Catholic Church as "unnatural"--even the use of 
condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS. More than 150 years ago, civil 
libertarian John Stuart Mill astutely pointed out it is no more unnatural to 
use a condom to avoid pregnancy than it is unnatural to hold an umbrella up 
against the rain.

Ironically and hypocritically, the Catholic Church and many fundamentalist 
Christian denominations are now embracing the thoughtless application of 
these so-called "unnatural" advances in medical technology to create the 
tragedy that is Terri Schiavo. In past times, Terri would have died quickly 
when her irreversible brain damage occurred and left her in an persistent 
vegetative state. Just because medical technology can artificially keep 
alive someone in a near brain-dead state does not mean it is ethical or 
compassionate to do so. Religious zealots, in their black-and-white, Ten 
Commandments worldview of "God's will be done," are incapable of seeing 
reality's grey tones. In this Orwellian reversal, artificial prolongation of 
a life that is over is called "compassion," and letting nature take its 
course is calling "killing."

Everyone mourns the death of a young woman at 26. One could feel the 
heartache of Terri Shiavo's Catholic parents at the loss of their young 
daughter, except that they have had 15 years to learn about her condition, 
and to accept the medical facts.

They willfully delude themselves about her condition and are complicit with 
rightwing politicians and antiabortion leaders, such as antiabortion bully 
Randall Terry, who want to use their daughter's pathetic medical condition 
to advance an agenda to remove medical choice and control from Americans. 
Apparently, Terri Shiavo is just "red meat" to throw at the chomping 
antiabortion movement. As the shameless "talking points" that were 
circulated in Congress argued: "the pro-life base will be excited that the 
Senate is debating this important issue."

What happened in Congress late last night was the most calculated and 
cold-blooded case of political grandstanding imaginable. (And didn't they 
violate their esteemed Ten Commandments by working on the "sabbath"--and not 
just any sabbath, but Palm Sunday?)

Calling Congress back to session at the cost of millions of tax dollars to 
intermeddle with a Florida court ruling in Schiavo's long-litigated case, 
is, as Rep. John Conyers Jr., pointed out, an unprecedented attack on the 
separation of powers. Rep. Barney Frank is correct to term those 
machinations the "the manifestation of a Constitutional crisis."

Last Friday, when the feeding tubes were removed from poor Terri Shiavo, it 
was a "good Friday," for reason, and for those who care about the dignity, 
not just the duration, of life.

Congress' and the president's actions are assailable on so many fronts. 
Those who voted "yes" are blinded by religious principle--or by the brazen 
political wish to pander to ignorant, mean-spirited, bullying religious 
lobbies.

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---

From: "Jim Bill" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 17:56:49 -1000

There are those who argue that Ms. Schiavo's "rights as a Catholic" would be
violated if she is allowed to starve to death.

See:   http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43006

"The Chandler's attorney, David Gibbs, has said he plans to file an appeal
to the U.S. Supreme Court on religious liberty grounds, asserting Terri's
rights as a Catholic would be violated by forcing her to starve to death."

---

From: "democratcat67" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 18:40:11 -0000

The religious aspect in the following article should be obvious. 

My question is that Terri Schiavo is obviously surviving due to 
medical science and technology. Wouldn't taking her off the feeding 
tube put her more "in God's hands," since the Vatican says, "Only God 
can decide whether a person should live or die"? 

I think we all know what God's "decision" would be. Of course, we're 
not talking logical thinking here.
 
  -- Richard

http://news.yahoo.com/news?
tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050322/ap_on_re_us/brain_damaged_woman_religion

Faith Traditions Differ on Schiavo Ethics 

Tue Mar 22, 3:00 AM ET   U.S. National - AP 

By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer 

The end-of-life issues raised by the Terri Schiavo case have long 
been discussed by thinkers in the major religions and at first 
glance, they seem to agree: Each faith emphasizes preserving life, 
though there is no mandate for prolonging it at all costs. 

AP Photo 

AFP  
 Slideshow: Terri Schiavo Right-to-Die Case 

The problem comes in implementing that idea. 

Each medical case raises its own questions about how close the person 
is to death and what would constitute an extraordinary or heroic 
treatment that would delay a death with no real benefit to the 
patient. 

"Is there an appropriate time to pull the plug? There certainly can 
be, but the devil is within the details," said John Jefferson Davis, 
who teaches Christian ethics at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, 
an evangelical school in Hamilton, Mass. "Good medical ethics 
requires both good principles and good facts." 

With the facts in Schiavo's case in dispute, determining what remains 
within ethical boundaries is difficult, several experts said. 

Court-appointed doctors say Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative 
state, after her heart stopped beating temporarily 15 years ago, 
cutting off oxygen to her brain. Her parents, who are observant Roman 
Catholics, deny that she is in a vegetative state. Video broadcast 
nationally has shown her appearing to interact with her family. But a 
court-appointed doctor has said the reactions are merely reflexes. 

Of the major faith traditions, the Catholic position on Schiavo's 
care is the most definitive. The Vatican (news - web sites) 
newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, on Monday condemned the withdrawal 
of the feeding tube, saying only God can decide whether a person 
should live or die. 

"Who can judge the dignity and sacredness of the life of a human 
being, made in the image and likeness of God? Who can decide to pull 
the plug as if we were talking about a broken or out-of-order 
household appliance?" the paper said in a commentary. 

A year ago, Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II said that feeding 
and hydrating a patient in a persistive vegetative state was "morally 
obligatory" and called withdrawal of feeding tubes "euthanasia by 
omission." 

Some debate ensued among theologians about what the pope's statement 
meant for Catholics who draft living wills. However, the pope's 
position on Schiavo is unambiguous, since she is brain-damaged, not 
terminally ill, said John Grabowski, professor of moral theology at 
Catholic University in Washington. 

"You're not dealing with a person who is dying or facing imminent 
death," Grabowski said. "The pope says it doesn't matter if a person 
is unresponsive or comatose. They don't lose their personal dignity." 

Dr. Shahid Athar, head of medical ethics for the Islamic Medical 
Association of North America and a professor at Indiana University 
School of Medicine, said Muslim teaching also requires that Schiavo 
continue to be fed through the tube, although no extraordinary steps 
should be taken to keep her alive. 

"You cannot deny hydration or nutrition in a vegetative state," Athar 
said. "It's not a heroic measure." 

In Jewish teaching, however, there is no consensus on situations such 
as Schiavo's. 

Rabbi Elliott Dorff, author of "Matters of Life and Death: A Jewish 
Approach to Modern Medical Ethics," said it appears there is no 
chance that Schiavo will recover, since she has spent more than a 
decade in a vegetative state, and therefore he concluded that the 
feeding tube amounted to an extraordinary measure. He acknowledged 
that some rabbis would disagree and would argue that providing food 
and water artificially was simply filling a basic human need. 

"But I see artificial nutrition and hydration in this case as 
medicine," said Dorff, vice president of the law committee for the 
Conservative Jewish movement. "At some point or another, we have to 
recognize that death has come and begin to deal with that 
appropriately, not medically, but through the mourning process."