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I'd like to think we're more civilized than the bloodthirsty pagans of ancient Rome.

I'd like to think that, too, but sometimes I wonder. It's hard to imagine that even Rome amidst the worst of its bloodthirsty revelry and debauchery would have imagined killing a newborn by sucking it's brains out while in the process of delivery, or burning the skin off of unborn children with injected concentrated saline solutions. Yet it happens in this country all the time.

We're seeing in the Schiavo case the logical endpoint of the culture of death. Killing innocents persons has become acceptable and sanctioned by society, with certain caveats (which themselves are being eroded away). Things like the court accepting the hearsay of another individual with obvious conflicts of interest, taking polls to gauge public approval of the killing, etc., all lend an aura of acceptability. Of course, the preference is that the killing be shielded by the masquerade of "privacy", done out of sight and out of mind, hidden away somewhere in a chamber of horrors abortion mill, or a hospice room to which visitation of family and friends is denied.

The Romans exposed unwanted infants to die of exposure and crucified their enemies. It took the conversion of the Empire to Christianity to abolish both barbaric practices. We're now living in what is essentially a post-Christian civilization. We've accepted abortion and we're well on the way to accepting euthanasia. And we live with these horrors because we never see the victims. How long did Rome last? America too is on the precipice of heading down the slippery slope to moral oblivion.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

It's hard to imagine that even Rome amidst the worst of its bloodthirsty revelry and debauchery would have imagined killing a newborn by sucking it's brains out while in the process of delivery, or burning the skin off of unborn children with injected concentrated saline solutions. Yet it happens in this country all the time.

Well actually Roman fathers (Paterfamilias) had the power of life and death over every member of their family. If a Roman father didn't want to raise a newborn as a citizen for any reason, or for no reason at all, the baby could be abandoned, usually in the countryside to die of exposure.

Cordially,

We're seeing in the Schiavo case the logical endpoint of the culture of death. Killing innocents persons has become acceptable and sanctioned by society, with certain caveats (which themselves are being eroded away). Things like the court accepting the hearsay of another individual with obvious conflicts of interest, taking polls to gauge public approval of the killing, etc., all lend an aura of acceptability. Of course, the preference is that the killing be shielded by the masquerade of "privacy", done out of sight and out of mind, hidden away somewhere in a chamber of horrors abortion mill, or a hospice room to which visitation of family and friends is denied.

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Well said. Very well said.