Christianity is supposed to preach love, compassion and forgiveness, but have a look at the words and actions employed by some of the self-proclaimed ’supporters’ of brain-damage victim Terri Schiavo.

Randall Terry of the extremist anti-abortion group Operation Rescue says that if Schiavo dies ‘there will be hell to pay’. Terry charges that Governor Jeb Bush, a former hero of the Religious Right, has now ‘caved in to a runaway judiciary’. (LA Times, 25 Mar. 2005)

Rev. Jerry Falwell, former head of the failed Moral Majority: ‘Just because there is a judge somewhere in the world who would give an estranged husband like [Terri Schiavo's] the time of day, tells you how bad the court system is.’ (Detroit Free Press, 25 Mar. 2005)

Mathew Gear, a Kansas theology student: ‘They [the politicians and lawyers] want to establish a culture of death and not life in all areas.’ (News.telegraph, UK, 26 Mar. 2005)

Schiavo’s husband Michael is ‘considered by the [protesters] to be nothing less than the Devil. He is accused in the most vitriolic fashion of being interested only in obtaining his wife’s life insurance money, of mistreating her over the years and of “having something to hide”.’ (Andrew Buncombe, Independent, 26 Mar. 2005)

‘The FBI arrested a North Carolina man for sending an email offering a bounty of US$250,000 … to anyone who would kill Michael Schiavo and US$50,000 for killing a judge who has ruled in favour of the husband in the case. The man, Richard Alan Meywes of Fairview, North Carolina, was charged with solicitation of murder and sending threatening communications and could face up to 15 years in prison …’ (New Zealand Herald, 26 Mar. 2005)

‘Amid the pitched legal battle over Terri Schiavo that has been fought through his court, Pinellas County Circuit Judge George Greer has been under the protection of armed guards, and friends say his family also is protected. Death threats have been made against him … and the Southern Baptist church that Greer belonged to for years has asked him to leave the congregation … [H]is pastor suggested it would be better if he left. “You must know that in all likelihood it is this case which will define your career and this case that you will remember in the waning days of life”, Calvary Baptist Pastor William Rice wrote to Greer … “I hope you can find a way to side with the angels and become an answer to the prayers of thousands.” (Vickie Chachere, Wired News, 26 Mar. 2005)

‘The protesters [outside Schiavo's hospice] are comparing Michael Schiavo to Judas … “Betrayed by a kiss: Jesus, Terri”, read one handmade poster, apparently alluding to the fact that her husband was the first man Terri Schiavo had ever kissed. “Judas = husband”, read another. Two other posters … likened both President Bush and his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, to Pontius Pilate …’ (San Francisco Gate, 27 Mar. 2005)

‘Some [protesters] hold aloft distinctly un-Christian banners for the benefit of the media. “Michael Schiavo, Judge Greer; You are going to Hell, murderers’, one said.’ (Times Online, 28 Mar. 2005)

Slander, abuse, persecution, death threats and hellfire! Yes, the Schiavo case has certainly been a shining advertisement for the Christian religion.

Filed in: Voluntary Euthanasia