Additional comments made by Ricky Roehr, national guide of the US
“This is a very interesting case and presents frustrating questions to the conservatives who have painted themselves into a corner with contradictory rhetoric such as “life is sacred” or “it’s god’s will”. As many Christians, they feel they know what is better for a person than the person themselves. They would have this woman live in her pitiful condition – even though it apparently goes against her wishes. They would save the life of a fetus which would live a life of suffering but they usually support capital punishment! They would have all retarded, deformed, incapacitated people, who were, by the way, born this way through “natural God-condoned reproduction” live a life which is to be pitied but the same people are fighting against the stem cell technology and human cloning – the very thing which could cure ALL defects. They would shoot a suffering horse but make it illegal for a human being, suffering beyond their wildest nightmares, to eliminate their own suffering!

Like the Pope, their parents “fought in the name of god” against science – science like surgeries, blood transfusions, vaccines etc. But we should notice that they take their sick children to the hospital instead of the church to be healed.

OK, so let’s try to assume that the “Christian right” is correct - that a god is responsible for everything and this god has a “plan”. So that would mean that god gave Mrs. Schiavo the eating disorder which put her in this position, that god caused the tidal wave which killed 150,000, that god sends hurricanes, earthquakes, diseases which have killed countless millions. This seems a logical deduction since people are always thanking god for letting the “disaster do jour” pass them by! Let’s not forget that, in this scenario, that god allowed the hijackers to kill 3,000 innocent Americans. Similarly, god surely causes the majority of pregnancies miscarry in the first 3 months. If it were god’s plan that a woman get pregnant, why would god allow the miscarriage and kill this baby? Did god overlook something that day? Not possible! We’re speaking about God here! If everything is a part of god’s plan then it is even MORE logical to argue that man’s ability to create life is within the same god’s plan, since this god gave man the ability to do so!

Or, does it make even more sense to deduce that there is no god, that tidal waves and earthquakes happen solely do to the physical nature of the universe, as do problems arising from “natural reproduction” – and that it is man’s responsibility to better the quality of life on this planet instead of waiting for a god to do it.

It is time to stop believing in such fairy tales and start acting as responsible adults instead of blaming devils for bad things or giving credit to a god for good things. Even the Pope was praying for rain while condemning Indian tribes for doing the same thing! And…have you ever heard of an athlete blaming god for his dropping the ball or losing a match? "