Please read the press release from Joni and Friends. Joni Eareckson Tada is the founder of Joni and Friends, an organization accelerating Christian ministry in the disability community.
To uphold the God-given dignity of life – especially those whose lives are impacted by significant disabilities – we are asking society to stop using the term “persistent vegetative state.” Too many people with severe disabilities have been called “vegetables” – this is not only demeaning, but dehumanizing. When severely disabled people are stripped of life-dignity, the discussion too easily turns to death or the warehousing of that individual in a hospice.
Very good point indeed. What dignity and rights should a *vegetable* have anyway, right?
We have observed that media discussions have centered around whether or not a severely disabled person is “going to get better some day” as though that fact is a criterion for life. However, for millions of Americans, disability is a fact of life; many will “never get better” by society’s standards. We assert that the quality of one’s life should never be a criteria to put them to death. Life is the most irreplaceable and fundamental condition of what it means to be human and it is an express gift of God, the Author of life.
I. Could. Not. Agree. More.
Terri Schiavo. 1963-2005.
He recently granted an interview and gave some priceless quotes in the process. I once heard Dr. Ken Boa say that he is going to write a book on the theology of Woody Allen. I hope he was not kidding. Woody Allen is refreshingly honest when it comes to the practical reality of his worldview. It is rarer than rare to find someone with the honesty to say it like it really is ... even if it is depressing.