This message has been endorsed by individuals from several organizations (including our co-ministers, Jaco B. & Barbara W. ten Hove), and will be released by the Center for American Progress, an organization that works with a diverse group of religious leaders and religious organizations, collaborating on issues of importance to our country.
March 25, 2005 HAVE THEY NO DECENCY? Religious Leaders Call for an End to Selective Morality in Washington
How does it come to pass in our country that Congress and the President would rush back to Washington on a Palm Sunday evening for the express purpose of trying to overrule the decisions of six courts and nineteen judges over a period of many years regarding the appropriate medical treatment of one individual?
How does it come to pass that elected leaders who are sworn to uphold the U.S. Constitution now refuse to accept any court's decision until they find a court that agrees with their position? How does it come to pass that expert medical opinion, along with expert legal opinion, is being cast aside and trodden underfoot in a crass use of piety to usurp judicial prerogatives? And most painfully to those who work directly with families in crisis, how does it come to pass that a spouse's anguish and a spouse's devotion to the expressed wishes of his loved one can be disparaged and discredited by religious figures acting in league with reckless politicians?
Sadly, we understand all too well how this can come to pass. We see clearly how an excruciating family drama involving the understandable grief of the parents as well is being manipulated for narrow partisan advantage.
We, the undersigned religious leaders, hold that compassion and respect for a family's private decision making, respect for the rule of law, and respect for medical expertise are things of great value; are in fact moral goods that we jettison only at our peril.
We therefore call for an end to the selective morality that has been exhibited in connection with the tragic case of Terri Schiavo. We remind the American people that all elected leaders who claim to be fighting for the rights and dignity of the disabled must be judged by the votes they cast day in and day out, and not by any opportunistic rhetoric they may choose to apply to one dramatic case.
Accordingly, we will be watching to see what actions those in Congress who claim to speak for Terri Schiavo will take in respect to funding for Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program; funding for expanded supportive housing for the mentally ill and physically disabled; funding for the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) nutrition lifeline program; and also what actions they will take in respect to proposed EPA rule changes that will expose children to mercury toxins despite overwhelming evidence of the serious neurological damage caused by such exposure.
By their fruits we shall know them, and we shall know very soon whether these elected leaders' fruits express true respect and concern for human dignity and the right of every child, woman, and man to the fullness of life.
In the meantime, we will continue to pray for Terri Schiavo and her family, recognizing their need for God's love and support in this most painful time.
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