Pro-life groups, Christian community banding together for Schiavo

Mar 24, 2005 / 22:00 pm

Since last Friday, brain damaged Terri Schiavo has been without food and water following a court order at the request of her husband Michael, to have the feeding tube, which has fed and hydrated her for the last 15 years, removed.

 

She has been at the center of a tumultuous legal battle, which has reached all the way to congress and President Bush.

 

Numerous courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court have, over the past week, have refused to hear new evidence and overturn Florida Judge George Greer's February 24th decision to have the 41-year old Schiavo starved.

 

Hope is now growing dim as physical signs of starvation are reported to be overtaking Terri's body.

 

Bobby Schindler, Terri's brother, said this morning that, ""It's very frustrating. Every minute that goes by is a minute that Terri is being starved and dehydrated to death."

 

Seeing her, he said, was like looking at "pictures of prisoners in concentration camps."

 

According to attorneys and friends of Terri's family, Schiavo is showing numerous signs of dehydration flaky skin, dry tongue and lips, and sunken eyes.

 

Earlier this morning, hundreds gathered at an all-day prayer vigil at the Governor's Mansion in Tallahassee to beg for Florida's highest legislator to take action.

 

"We are here on Good Friday to ask Governor Jeb Bush to intervene to save the life of Terri Schiavo.  The governor has it within his power to rescue Terri, her life is in the governor's hand," said Rev. Patrick Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition.

 

Suzanne Vitadamo, Terri's sister told the Associated Press yesterday that, "We're minute by minute right now. But it doesn't look like we have much left."

 

Christians and religious groups nationwide have been banding together, praying and begging for mercy for Terri Schiavo.

 

Fr. Frank Pavone national Director of Priests for Life strongly criticized the courts' decission and said it was time for "a new civil desobedience."

 

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Some African-American church leaders in particular, have been calling on their congregations to take action.

 

Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson, a prominent African American minister issued a statement saying, "Like most Americans I have been following the Terri Schiavo case watching the legal battle and emotional drama between Terri's parents and her husband Michael Schiavo."

 

"During this process", he said, "Terri's fight has become a rallying point for most Conservative Christians with the exception of blacks. Nearly all the people fighting and protesting to keep Terri alive are white! Where are the prominent black ministers?"

 

He noted, "We don't see them because they're looking at this as a race issue, rather than as a moral one. Blacks, especially Christians, should stop looking at this issue through the prism of race. The battle is between people who are for life versus those who favor death."