I often take time out from my disgust and dismay at what the Southern Baptists are doing lately, and affirm that despite all this, there remain Southern Baptists who can stand up for what is right, or refuse to be sucked in by the political maneuverings and cynical use of “family values” to keep the Religious Right placated (or in some cases, euphoric)
This Florida judge has even been asked by his Southern Baptist Church congregation to leave. Of all the most despicable, POLITICAL, callous, close-minded, arrogant, idiotic things to do. It is a CHURCH. This judge has real comapssion, and he apparently knows grandstanding when he sees it. But this Church apparently cares more for “their culture, THEIR dogma, and their relationship with the right wing than they do their people. It’s a church truly in step with the Southern Baptist Convention leadership.
Yahoo! News – Schiavo Judge Attains New Fame, Infamy
Amid the pitched legal battle over Terri Schiavo that has been fought through his court, Pinellas County Circuit Judge George Greer has been under the protection of armed guards, and friends say his family also is protected.
Death threats have been made against him for allowing Michael Schiavo to remove the feeding tube that has kept his 41-year-old wife alive for the past 15 years, and the Southern Baptist church that Greer belonged to for years has asked him to leave the congregation.
Greer — a conservative Christian and longtime Republican known for an easy manner — has become the public face of the judiciary in this internationally watched fight. But despite the mounting pressure, he has been steadfast in his rulings that Terri Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state and did not want to be kept alive artificially.
“There are very few people who have shown the will to stand up to raw power,” said Stetson University Law Professor Michael Allen, who has studied the Schiavo case. “He’s one.”
Pure hypocriasy. Very little real community. A religious country club. They ought to be ashamed, and I hope they see nothing but shame until they repent. Disgusting. Pray for these leaders of this Church, and their members who they have persuaded that this is right; for they apparently “know not what they are doing”.
the schiavo case is not so complicated when one understands that in this country you have the right to refuse medical care and your legal guardian with power of attorney has the right to make this decision on your behalf. the spouse has always been considered the defacto legal guardian with power of attorney. if the schindlers win on the basis of overturning guardianship, it will be a serious blow to the husband-wife relationship. this is the reason why they have lost every single one of their cases.
the correct phrase is “TOE the line”, not “TOW the line”.
Interesting evolution of this phrase; it had never occurred to me, seeing so many uses of the “tow the line” as opposed to “toe the line”. One google search had a poster saying that “Tow the line” made no sense, but actually, in America, it makes MORE sense that the apparent origin of the “toe the line”. The poster says that “Tow” which means to drag behind, does not capture it. But towing is pulling, and I always envisioned a tug-of-war, where one opinion pulls against an opposition.
TOE THE LINE apparently refers to some Bristih parliament physical line where people “take a position”. One might now even think of a border or an “inbounds line” or free throw stripe (seeing its March madness time), but none of these really make the kind of sense to American minds as “TOW THE LINE”, therefore, the shift and usage of TOW. I suppose that book editors tend to catch those kinds of etymologies, while blogs and such are not.
Anyway, I learned something new. Thanks.