The worshippers of death and the camel's nose

Please forgive me. I have had this one for a while, so I really should get around to publishing! This is another one by Jack Lewis, and it will outrage you. That is, if you think about it.

SUMMARY: British courts saved the life of a young boy whose doctors had tried to kill. The boy is not in a persistent vegetated state, but the doctors simply determine him to be "suffering" due to his paralyses. Quite a large step the worshippers of death are taking from their victory in the torture and murder of Terri Schiavo. They are serious about taking more ground in their war against life. But how much ground have they really won? The truth may amaze you.

TEXT: March 16, 2006
From the London Telegraph:

An 18-month-old terminally ill boy with an incurable condition should be kept alive, a High Court judge ruled.

Mr Justice Holman concluded in a 29-page judgment that it was not in the boy's best interests to withdraw life-saving ventilation. The boy, known only as MB, suffers from spinal muscular atrophy. He cannot breathe, chew or swallow and has been in intensive care since he was seven weeks old.

His doctors had gone to the court to seek to withdraw ventilation. It was the first time a court had been asked to make a life-or-death ruling on a patient who was not in a persistent vegetative state. The doctors had argued that the boy's life was "intolerable". One said that he would lose his ability to open his eyelids, probably within the next few months and would have growing problems with heart rate and blood pressure.

The judge, while expressing his "great and genuine respect" for the medical team, said the pleasures the boy enjoyed outweighed the discomfort and distress he suffered every day.

They might have lost this one, but the fact that they even tried shows they are on the move and looking to expand the types of people they can murder. Last year it was Terri Schiavo. This year they attempted more, and were turned back. They'll be back. [Continue reading.]

When calling one of my state legislatures about legislation that would prevent the murder of the disabled, I was told, "We don't need the government interfering in family decisions" The legislator said it with enough conviction that I knew I wouldn't get anywhere arguing with him. Sure I could have pointed out that the state meddles with family decisions all the time when it comes to children, why would the disabled be of less concern? What I've learned since then is that the idea of quietly helping someone, who is perceived to be suffering, to die is an idea that has already by and large been accepted by most Americans. It was a chilling realization. We are that far along the slippery slope toward another Nazi regime.

When Hitler came to power he wasn't enthusiastically endorsed by the German people—he was tolerated out of perceived necessity. As he slowly gained more power, they continued to tolerate it, since he also brought economic stability and a sense of national pride. He allowed them to shift their anger and resentment toward a scapegoat (the Jews) and by the time they realized the price they were expected to pay for his insanity was too high, it was far too late.

People like Boenhoffer and Niemoller tried to warn the German people, but were silenced permanently in the case of Boenhoffer, who was executed after Hitler accused him of attempting to assassinate him (an accusation curiously accepted as truth by historians, in spite of the lack of any evidence to support it). Niemoller escaped, which took him out of the position to further influence the German people.

Voices are crying today, warning of the dangers of belittling the value of human life, but those voices are being ignored and laws are being twisted, warped or just plain ignored in an effort to quietly remove those people whose existence most find inconvenient, just as the Germans found the Jews' existence inconvenient.

Martin Niemoller offered this warning to people everywhere...

In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionists. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I am protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.

It's a much misused quote, which is to be expected, but in this case it is exactly what Niemoller was speaking to. I have two children with a congenital condition serious enough that some have felt it their duty to attempt to use the government to prevent us from having more children, even though it is doubtful those same people could tell which of our children actually have the condition, even if they were to watch them for hours on end. When people demand the power of life and death over others, without demonstrating a healthy respect for life in general, is Nazism far behind? They came for Terri Schiavo, tortured her to death, and few spoke up because they found her uncomfortable to watch. They come for handicapped children, and most ignore it because it's not their child. But how long until it is your child? How long until it's you they come for?

May you walk with the LORD always, and when you cannot take another step, may He carry you the rest of the way until you can walk along side Him again.

Cross-posted @ Rosemary's News and Ideas.