Anyone else losing last vestige of religion

[saracat]

due to the Shiavo circus? I was raised as a Catholic. I left the Church years ago for many reasons , including their treatment of my dying father, in whom , unlike Terri, they had zero interest.
I continued to celebrate Easter however, as a tribute to my late mother. I prepared a traditional meal and had food baskets blessed. I will not be doing that this year.I am cutting the final ties. This might not seem like much to others, but it is a large sacrifice for me. But I believe my mother would approve. I cannot associate myself with the vileness surrounding these Right to Lifers hypocrisy even in a minimum manner. They are preaching insurrection against the judiciary, all in the name of a woman who cannot speak for herself.
I am so sorry for Terri, but they have already allowed the damage to take place. I am sure that this shy and somewhat insecure girl who never have wanted to be remembered this way. The pictures of her are awful. Some might not think so, but she would . The girl was a bulimic in search of beauty. The fact that they endlessly loop these awful pictures is the final insult.They have robbed her of her dignity and it can't be returned.
I disapprove of funeral viewing but would never enforce my feelings on another. I buried my parents in accordance with their wishes, though they were not my own. I was forced to view my mother and help with her makeup, though I had stated I didn't want to remember her that way. I also had to approve my Dad, as there was no one else to do it.

Terri Shiavo has had the most extended wake in history and the most viewed, in not the best of circumstances. The religious fanatics have totally usurped he free will.They have forever sullied her memory and altered the impression of the memory they she would have like to have left. Her parents are monsters.

I am making sure that only I control my final disposition.I will have no service and be cremated. The memories I leave will be unpolluted by the manipulation of others. Terri has had that right, whether one agrees with her or not, taken away from her.

If they are really Catholics, They understand the concept of "free will" and they have intercepted Terri's, and intervened in her relationship with God. They have usurped the rights of God as well as that of the state and the individual.As a Jesuit priest said yesterday, in reaction to the Vatican and the fanatics,
this is just bizarre".

I choose to believe God is watching and he will make the final decision.

[regnaD kciN]

1. But how many of those in the Church...

...(whether meant as the Roman Catholic Church or Christianity as a whole) are among the "fanatics?"

It seems to me that, if one judges any group, organization, or religion based on the most extreme and negative individuals found there, one would have a good reason to shun everyone.

For all those turning the last days of Terri Schiavo's earthly existence into a media circus, there are hundreds in the Church feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, and showing forth God's love to the world.

[Maeve]

2. Please don't let the minority idjits push you away

There are fools out there claiming to believe in "the right to life" and the sanctity of such and then putting out hits on the judge and the husband!!! God's patience is observable in that these are not zapped. But they will go on to another cause in a week or so (some are a traveling group of protestors; last month the same faces were "protecting" the 10 Commandments)

For reasons we do not fathom, God put humans in charge of our own institutions. So we get a world run by the sort of people who want to run other people's lives--with the odd good leader. Hold onto the hope of Easter--all will be well, and all manner of things will be well--and turn off the news and go outside into the rebirth of nature.

I believe God is watching and alternates between head-shaking and laughing at us.

[Hans Delbrook]

3. Please, Please read this before you give up.

It made my day.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/editorialcommentary/story/EAA

It's the most rational thing I read on the Shiavo "case" hands down, and it's by Fr. Charles E. Bouchard, a Catholic Dominican friar, is president and associate professor of moral theology at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis.

[Maeve]

4. Better link

story

[Hans Delbrook]

5. Thanks! nt

[Stunster]

6. Sin and folly in the Church strengthen my faith

that it is of divine institution.

If the Catholic Church was dependent for its existence on the virtue and wisdom of its human leaders, it would have gone out of business a long, long time ago.

So, if I see wickedness and folly in the Church, that merely confirms my faith.

Why do I say that? Because if the Church can survive such a long history of bad leadership, then it really must be God who is guiding the bark of Peter through the storm, and not the incompetent and sinful crew members! And this is just how it was with Jesus and his Apostles. If you want to see the first 'bishops' in action, there's a great line in Mark's gospel when Jesus is being arrested and taken away for trial and torture: "And they all fled". The very first 'leaders' of the Church abandoned Christ when he was being led to his death. And they've been abandoning Him ever since!

Why does God permit the Church to be so misgoverned at times? Because He wants to show that the Church does not depend for its continued existence on the merits of Priests, Bishops, Archbishops, Cardinals, or even the Popes (many of whom were atrocious characters)---the "high and mighty"---but on God's own grace inspiring the ordinary believer to proclaim the Gospel in ordinary ways in their daily lives.

Without the grace of God and the Holy Spirit living in the hearts and souls of the people, the Church would be nothing at all.

[etherealtruth]

7. A wonderful thought on the eve of Easter, thank you (n/t)

[Tinoire]

8. Tu es Petrus...

and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Thank you for a very nice, thought-provoking post for this Easter week.

[Matilda]

9. The Schiavos are not representative of Catholics per se.

What I find most difficult to understand about them, while
recognising the agony of losing a beloved daughter, is why they
are so reluctant for her to meet her God. They should be happy
that her earthly suffering is finally coming to an end, but it
seems they are putting themselves and their grief first. That's
what's really sad about all this.

[DemBones DemBones]

10. The Schiavo case hasn't hurt my Catholic faith but

I am extremely disappointed and depressed that so few on the left see that Terri Schiavo is being deliberately killed on the basis of hearsay evidence that she would want to die.

Many at DU refuse to admit that this is a disability rights issue but Terri Schiavo is profoundly disabled, not terminally ill. (She may be near death now but that is only due to the fact that she'd been deprived of nutrition and water for eight days. Before the feeding tube was stopped, she was not in danger of death and suffered from no terminal illness.)

Harriet McBryde Johnson is a disability rights attorney in Charleston, S.C., who has been severely disabled since birth. Writing in Slate, she pointed out:

" In addition to the rights all people enjoy, Ms. Schiavo has a statutory right under the Americans With Disabilities Act not to be treated differently because of her disability. Obviously, Florida law would not allow a husband to kill a nondisabled wife by starvation and dehydration; killing is not ordinarily considered a private family concern or a matter of choice. It is Ms. Schiavo's disability that makes her killing different in the eyes of the Florida courts. Because the state is overtly drawing lines based on disability, it has the burden under the ADA of justifying those lines."

http://slate.msn.com/id/2115208/

In the Disability Rights Forum, we've been discussing the Schiavo case and it seems that disabled DUers almost unanimously oppose the euthanasia of Terri Schiavo while most abled DUers are sure she'll be better off dead. We think it just shows how afraid of disability most people are.

And you know what's interesting? Twenty-six national disability rights organizations have issued statements supporting Terri Schiavo's right to continued nutrition and hydration. Most of them have filed amicus briefs in the many court cases. Ever heard the media mention that? Ever seen them talk to disability activists protesting the courts condemning her to die? Why have they focused on the religious aspect on nothing else?

Does the left care nothing for the lives of the disabled?

[Princess Turandot]

11. The woman is already dead.

Virtually every poster that I've read on DU who believes her body should go to its final rest, is written by someone who believes that what makes her human is gone.( I'm ignoring the folks who see this as only a political issue, whose responses have ranged from the reasonable to the offensive. And yes, although I believe this woman's body should go to its final rest, I've alerted on more than one poster who forgets that at one time she was a human being.)

People with disabilities have their right to be concerned abt the callousness of others in our society. But Ms. Schiavo is not the representative of those concerns. She died years ago, and using her as an example diminishes the protection of the disabled rather than enhances it. It is the medical & philosophical version of crying wolf.

You quote Ms.Johnson in your post. I have no idea what her physical disability is(unless she is the attorney profiled awhile back in the NY times article abt Peter Singer & a disabled attorney,) but I don't understand how you can draw a parallel between her & Ms. Schiavo.

[Cuban_Liberal]

12. She breathes, and her heart beats.

I cannot accept a definition of 'life' that is dependent on relative levels of higher brain function. If the body lives, then to kill it is surely homicide.

[Matilda]

15. It is an issue that we've all had to think hard about.

But Terri Schiavo is brain dead - her brain cannot think, recognise
or process any information or what her eyes may see; there is no
understanding, no comprehension, no ability to carry out the most
basic function, she can't do anything unaided - except yes, she
breathes. I certainly find the prospect of death by starvation
pretty dreadful to contemplate, and for once, I would find the
prospect of euthanasia preferable to this, even though I know that
her brain cannot comprehend what is happening.

I can only relate to this in the most personal way - I would not
want to exist like this, nor could I bear to see a member of my
family like this. It is not life; it is no more than an amoeba-like
existence, shorn of any human thought or feeling. The parents have
maintained all along that there is hope of recovery, and if there
was the smallest possibility, I would understand their fight, but
the doctors have all said there is not the tiniest bit of hope, ever,
and I truly believe that death will bring her a dignity that has long
ago been lost in her life.

She will be with God, and I cannot help but be glad of this, because
what she has now is like a kind of limbo - neither life nor death.

[ElectroPrincess]

16. If you studied physiology, you could appreciate the fact

that a human being with ONLY a functioning brain stem has NO cognition. If you believe that only breathing and heartbeats are required for life, then medical intrusions of forced feeding are beyond the pale.

In nature, animals often are blessed to die a peaceful death by finding an isolated spot and "letting go" (not eating or drinking).

IMHO Terri's death is dignified and noble. God has waited too long for her to join Him.

[Beware the Beast Man]

13. I spent the last year in religious exile for the same reason-

and I went back to Church today- and I'm glad I did. It's not as if my parish is an "activist" one by any means, it"s just that between the flap over John Kerry's communion, the Vatican's discouraging remarks regarding homosexuality, and the Schiavo mess, my wife and I grew quite cynical over the whole idea of being Catholic. Yes, the Church is a community, but you must always remember that faith in Christ is a personal matter- no one can take that away from you, and no one has the right to decide what is right or wrong for you to believe.

[elshiva]

14. You still believe in God, so I don't think

you have lost all your faith. Please try to keep the faith that you have.:hug: