I’m going to put this badly and in a rambling sort of way because it’s late and I should have gone to bed hours ago, but something really troubles me about the very visible involvement of Christians in the Terri Schiavo case. We are the people who voted Bush back into office, rejecting the arrogance of the Democrats who believe in Big Government, and yet, are demanding that Jeb Bush do something beyond his state or Federal Constitutional powers, usurping authority from the courts like a leader of an African dictatorship. This (and other things) makes me think that Christians’ involvment with Terri Schiavo isn’t so much about Terri’s individual right to life as it is an expression of Chritian political power. Personally, I think the outpouring of Christian moralism in this case evidences a great deal of self-righteousness. We blast Michael Schiavo for being an “adulterer”, but we Christians get divorced at the same rate as “those” people who don’t have Jesus in their lives (but should godd#&@%*!). I think the story of the woman caught in adultery is very apropos here. Except this time, we we are the Pharisees, and Michael is the one being flung before Jesus and crapped on for his bad behavior.

There are two ways to look at Michael Schiavo: 1) the man who was unfaithful to his marriage vows and desires to kill his wife so he can marry another person (kind of like King David, but in reverse), or 2) the man who was faithful to his stricken wife and took care of her for 5 years, even going so far as to become a nurse to help her, until he succumbed to the temptation that at least 50% of Christians do today. But, in spite of this, he did not divorce his wife and instead, sought to carry out her wishes. Who is the real Michael Schiavo? Who knows.

Getting back on topic: besides divorce, our teenagers get have STDs at higher rates than the world around them because they make abstinence pledges that they don’t follow through with and didn’t teach them about birth control. I could keep going but, take one look at Barna’s website and you’ll find all kinds of statistics that show how Christians, as a people group aren’t doing so well morally culturally or intellectually in relation to their Jesus-less neighbors. We’re not good inside, but we sure look good, don’t we?

I’ve been thinking since the election that Christians have taken up activism of late in our society because we haven’t been able to “sell” Christianity to non-believers effectively enough. Ha! So much for semi-pelagian free-will evangelistic thinking that actually believes you can sell Christianity in the first place (I work in advertising, and you can’t sell something to somebody who just has no interest in your product, or the ego-boost you sell with it). Christianity in this country seems to have become a political party, and that, in my opinion, is evidence that it has transcended it’s organic cultural roots, and thus, its inherent power. The fact that Christians are winning in the political sphere at the expense of alienating our fellow citizens is really troublesome to me. That’s not good citizenry, not according to the New Testament, at least.

So, whether or not Michael Schiavo is a scumbag for shacking up with another woman and having kids is irrelevant to whether or not Christians are thinking about Terri’s case properly, on the whole. If we’re so concerned about life, why aren’t we there at EVERY (or even SOME) hospice(s) where a decision like this is made every day? Just an FYI, but Terri’s case, unfortunately, isn’t unique at all. Christians are acting and squawking on T.V. like this is the make-or-break moral compass issue for 2005. I think we’re becoming so “right-to-life” in the same way that N.O.W. is so pro-feminist agenda to the detriment of reason or compromise, like they were in the Scott Peterson trial. N.O.W. said that they didn’t want to support the 2nd charge against Scott for the murder of his unborn child, because it would imply that the child was actually a person, and not the woman’s “body”.

Call me crazy, but I don’t see this display of Christian activism as anything but irrational “right-to-life” politicking. It certainly isn’t a great moral issue of our time or even a small religious one, because a) this exact scenario happens to people every day (ask any hospital chaplain), and b) before these last couple of weeks, not a single Christian has said anything about Terri Schiavo’s life when it hanged in the balance before this time. Additionally, I don’t hear any Christians involved in this whole thing talk about Terri’s salvific state, only her physical one. I don’t hear them praying that she somehow come to know Christ if she doesn’t already, I just hear them saying that this is state-sponsored murder, which it isn’t for so many reasons that would be obvious to an even remotely civically educated person. Thank God for the Separation of Powers.

If I were Terri, I would want to be let go. Why would I want to stay here when I could be with the Lord? My mind is boggled that this isn’t what Christians are concerned about in Terri’s case. Whether or not Terri is being given a raw deal, or the one she wanted, we should be more concerned about where she goes after this life. It is not how one lives in this world that is half as important as where one lives in the next. If we cared about that, I believe we would care about the quality of her last days, not the quantity of them, and it would show.