February 2005

Terri Schiavo has received a three week stay. News here.

We'll stay on top of this. The trip to Florida is delayed, but not canceled until Terri is safe. Fathers and brothers in the Lord, remembering that pure and undefiled religion in the eyes of our Father is to visit widows and orphans in their distress, we encourage you to put March 18 on your calendar and to plan on being in Florida that day should this window of protection for Terri--a widow-in-truth if not legal fact--come to a close.

Judge Greer's ruling makes clear that he's impatient and wants the case to end. Remember, Greer ordered the removal of Terri's feeding tube twice before, in 2001 and 2003. His impatience with her case and desire for it to end is an ominous sign of his designs on Terri's life. According the the AP news report,

The judge wrote that he was no longer comfortable granting delays in the long-running family feud, which has been going on for nearly seven years and has been waged in every level of Florida's court system. He said the case must end.

"The court is no longer comfortable granting stays simply upon the filings of new motions," Greer wrote. "There will always be 'new' issues."

The abolitionist anthem, "Once to Every Man and Nation" comes to mind as we think about our responsibility in this contest....

The solipsistic end of Hunter S. Thompson is detailed here. Forget the verbal bouquets about the stoic writer embracing his destiny. Thompson shot himself in the midst of a quarrel with his wife.

He was a selfish man, funny from a distance, but miserably self-absorbed. He died as he lived. In the midst of a marital "tiff," his wife walked out on him. He asked her not to go. She left anyway. He called her at the gym where she had gone. They talked for ten minutes. She says he didn't say goodbye, instead she heard a click. The phone went dead. Club members saw her shaking. Minutes later Thompson's son called to say his father was dead.

His time of death, according to the medical examiner, was within minutes of the call.

A short time later Thompson's wife and a select group of friends gathered around the kitchen table where he'd shot himself (and still lay) drinking Chivas Regal in his memory.

All this from an article in today's Rocky Mountain News.

The article quotes Thompson's wife:

"It was very loving. It was not a panic, or ugly, or freaky... It was just like Hunter wanted. He was in control here."

Anita Thompson also echoes the comments that have been made by Hunter Thompson's son and daughter-in-law: That her husband's suicide did not come from the bottom of the well, but was a gesture of strength and ultimate control made as his life was at a high-water mark.

If only the Schiavo family had the "strength" of the Thompsons and their friends. What pain the world would be spared.

Friends, what follows is an exchange I've been having over the course of the past twenty-four hours. I post it on the blog with the prayer that it might be helpful to some still considering these issues, and not sure of the truth. Here then is some explanation of what follows:

This first E-mail I sent out to about forty church leaders, both in our own congregation (Church of the Good Shepherd), and in my brother, David's, congregation (Christ the Word), and across the country. Each of them are men I trust and have a personal relationship with.The second E-mail is a response I received from a dear friend of mine (I'll call him John Doe) I've been close to since our days together at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. In a forthright manner, he speaks for many evangelicals, I think, in expressing his belief that suicide or murder by starvation, as long as someone is old and decrepit, is good. The third E-mail is my response to a number of the recipients of my first E-mail who wrote to ask what exactly I was proposing in my first E-mail? The fourth E-mail is the second response I received from John Doe. The fifth E-mail is my first response, directly, to John Doe. The sixth E-mail is the third response I received from John Doe. The seventh E-mail is my final response to John Doe. And the eighth E-mail is the last word from John Doe.

FIRST E-MAIL:

Dear Brothers,

I'd like to hear your response to this blog post concerning Terri Schiavo that I'm considering posting:

TITLE: Terri Schiavo: This is true religion...

TEXT:
So Terri needs help. Is there a believer in this nation who's going to help her, or have cowardice and diffusion of responsibility unmanned us?

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. (James 1:27)

I desire godly counsel; please send me your thoughts.

With love in Christ,

Tim Bayly

Some suggest that behind Michael Schiavo's relentless pursuit of his wife Terri's death lies a desire to inherit the remaining portion of her malpractice settlement.

This is probably no longer the case. Informed speculation places the remaining portion of the settlement at less than $200,000--enough to buy a house but insufficient reward for an internationally ruined name and reputation. No, the only thing Schiavo's seeking to salvage at this point is pride. But what if a substantial sum could be his if he would forswear guardianship?

I'm willing to contribute $1000 to Mr. Schiavo for the release of Terri. What about others? I suspect at $1,000,000 Mr. Schiavo might alter his recollection of exactly what Terri told him of her long-term medical care desires so long ago...

Isn't this the most plausible means of ending this death march? A generous Christian could probably purchase Terri's freedom right now. Meanwhile, I'll happily donate $1000 to the cause.

I find the motivation behind various actors in the drama of Terri Schiavo's judicial homicide deeply puzzling.

Michael Schiavo's motivation is easiest to understand: he wishes to be rid of his wife. Perhaps he's simply completing under legal color what he first sought to accomplish extrajudicially. There is also the possibility of an inheritance upon her death, though whatever Schiavo stands to inherit doesn't seem worth the public opprobrium it carries with it. Ultimately, Mr. Schiavo's position is clear. He's a sinner shaking his fist at God.

But though Schiavo and Felos (his attorney) may be winning the legal battle, they're certainly losing in the court of public opinion. Few more unattractive litigants exist in the public eye today. It doesn't take the wisdom of Solomon to determine who Terri's true guardians are. I doubt there's a person on earth who, having paid attention to the situation, could come to any other conclusion than that Terri's parents love her while her former husband hates her.

So why do the courts continue to legitimize her murder? Why do they side with what is both a deeply unpopular and logically untenable position?

Schiavo is selfish, greedy and wicked. But the courts are more so. The judges who, in the quiet sanctity of their courtrooms and chambers, put their names to this charade of justice are far more misanthropic and evil than Schiavo. I find this kind of evil hard to fathom. This is evil with an agenda much greater than Schiavo's. Where does it end?