Speaking Out: Life with Dignity
Let's not be too eager to pull the plug on our fellow image-bearers.
By Stan Guthrie | posted 8/01/2004 12:00AM
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Michael Schiavo, unfortunately, doesn't see it that way. His attorney said, "It would be pure speculation to guess what Terri might say about the current theological discussion in the Catholic Church about tube feeding."
Whatever happened to Christian compassion for the weak and defenseless? Now it is no more than "pure speculation." In other words, full steam ahead with pulling the feeding tube.
Many proposals for improving care for those with brain injuries emerged from the Rome conference, according to Province: developing specialized coma care units, launching national registries for severe brain injury, and providing standardized diagnosis and assessment.
Facing our ignorance both in theology and science, we ought to tread lightly before wantonly playing God with the lives of the weakest among us—and those with severe brain injuries are surely that. Some people in comas inexplicably recover, while others do not. All, however, bear the divine image. All have inherent dignity. All are messengers pointing us to another world and the God whom we see dimly now, but one day will see face to face.
Stan Guthrie is associate news editor of Christianity Today
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Related Elsewhere:
Updates on Schiavo are at the Terri's Fight website.
A September 28, 2003, New York Times Magazine story on PVS, "What if There Is Something Going On in There," was much discussed in pro-life circles.
Earlier Christianity Today commentary on Terry Schiavo includes:
While I Was Sleeping | Why my husband finally refused to end my life during my two-month coma (Jan. 30, 2004)
Christian History Corner: Not a Mercy but a Sin | The modern push for euthanasia is a push against a two-millenniums-old Christian tradition (Jan. 30, 2004)
Why I Believe in Divorce | A disabled Florida woman's only hope to stay on life support is to divorce her husband who wants to pull the plug (Oct. 16, 2003)
Other Christianity Today coverage of the Schiavo case is available in our Life Ethics area. Links to mainstream news coverage of the case appears in our Weblog.
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