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commentary
The Last Straw
By Dr. Bruce C. Swaffield
School of Communication and the Arts
Regent University
CBN.com –
I am ashamed to be an American. We preach freedom, justice
and democracy to the world, yet we let a woman in Florida die
from dehydration and starvation.
For nearly two weeks, as billions of people all over the globe
watched, Terri Schiavo sank slowly toward death. Now she is gone
and her parents and siblings are left in solitude to ponder the
events of the past 15 years.
We allowed this death to happen, despite our moral and ethical
beliefs, not to mention our faith in God. I am angry and I am
embarrassed. All of us killed Terri Schiavo. It was not the United
States judicial system or husband Michael Schiavo that are entirely
at fault. In a way, we have only ourselves to blame for this barbaric
act.
Our complacency, both as citizens and as Christians in the United
States, over the past 40 years have all contributed to what happened
to Terri.
All we need to do is to review the last four decades to see
how it could be perfectly legal to kill a woman without any apprehension
or compunction.
Where were we when prayer was taken out of our schools?
Where were we when abortion became legal?
Where were we when creationism was taken out of the curriculum
in many schools?
Where are we now as religious symbols, such as The Ten Commandments,
are removed from public buildings and parks?
Where are we as states consider legalizing gay marriages?
What are we doing as Christmas becomes a secular “winter
holiday”?
Where have we been as films and television programs debase religious
values and include more sex, violence and profanity?
And now we wonder, almost in disbelief, how this country could
possibly permit the death of a woman based on hearsay from her
husband – a man who has fathered two children by a common
law marriage to another woman.
My point is that we must reclaim our Christian heritage as citizens
of the United States before all of our freedoms and rights are
taken away. This country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles
and we are letting post-modern secular humanists rob of us our
birthright.
First and foremost, we need to pray. Second, we need to get
involved in our communities and governments. We must make our
voices heard before we are silenced forever and we have to hide
in basements to worship Our Father and Creator. Third, we need
to promote positive Christian values and let Hollywood know that
we will not tolerate their trash any longer.
For me, the death of Terri Schiavo was the last straw. I was
born in 1950 and this is no longer the country that I knew back
in the 1950s and 1960s. I want my country back and I am willing
to do anything, short of violence, to get it back.
I have had enough and I am not going to take it anymore. The
United States belongs to God. I belong to God. You belong to God.
My most fervent prayer and hope is that God will use me, and you,
in any way possible to restore this nation to its full potential
in Christ.
The Lord has a plan for each one of us and he needs us to accomplish
his perfect will here on earth. All we have to do is to listen
to God and follow what he tells us to do. It is that simple.
If we allow God to guide us in the days and years ahead, then
Terri Schiavo will not have died in vain. Her life, and that of
countless others in similar circumstances, can help us return
to this nation to its religious and spiritual core.
The fate of future generations depends on what we do today.
Bruce Swaffield welcomes
your e-mail comments.
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