FindLaw findings...
The problem the group faces is obvious: In recent history, a subset of Christians often defined as "evangelicals" has striven and then achieved extraordinary political power, and their acts and history have come to define the word's very meaning.
The seeds were planted by the Christian Coalition and the Moral Majority, two groups that were cultivated during the Clinton Administration (which pandered to and used to its advantage evangelical Christians as well as other religious groups). Then, those seeds burst into full flower under the favorable sun of the Bush Administration. Outside the evangelicals' own universe, they were best known for their grasping and manipulation of national political power.
At no time was their power more apparent than the weekend when Congress reconvened and the President returned to Washington solely to enact the Terri Schiavo law, which I have discussed in a prior column. The law itself did not fulfill their dreams of controlling the country's debate over the morality of end-of-life care, but it did show their hand in a way guaranteed to swing the pendulum against them. (There is nothing Americans like less than seeing any one interest in control of their government, and religious organizations and coalitions are no exception.)......
An Evangelical Manifesto: How One Subgroup of Evangelical Christians Is Attempting the Redefine the Very Term "Evangelical"
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Youth in Asia and infirm in Oregon...
Thread by wagglebee.
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Rita L. Marker is an attorney and executive director of the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide. She is the author of the critically acclaimed book, Deadly Compassion, that has been called a compelling, persuasive, well-written and revealing discussion of both the personal and public sides of the euthanasia debate.
No matter the event, the venue or the audience – in the United States or in another country – assisted-suicide activists portray assisted suicide as the exercise of personal autonomy that is used to end unbearable suffering.
Conversely, opponents raise concerns that transforming assisted suicide from a crime into a medical treatment would eventually result in its expansion to include euthanasia by lethal injection and to encompass everyone from children to the frail, demented elderly.
Now that assisted suicide has been legally practiced in Oregon for ten years, those who oppose assisted suicide must answer the question: "Why hasn't Oregon expanded its law?"
The answer is simple: Political expediency.
Expansion of Oregon's law would be counterproductive for those who have long sought to transform both euthanasia (by lethal injection) and assisted suicide (by a lethal overdose of drugs) into accepted medical treatments.
Why Hasn't Oregon Expanded It's Assisted Suicide Law Into Euthanasia?
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