This poignant article on the Schiavo story was written by Douglas W. Phillips, Esq., who serves as the President of Vision Forum Ministries:

A Cup Of Water For Terri:  The Generational Implications for American Families of the Torture and Murder of Terri Schiavo

March 29, 2005
       
      If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of
      daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart
      in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding
      ye give them not those things which are needful
      to the body; what doth it profit? (James 2:15-16)
 
When you sit down for dinner tonight and enjoy a nice meal with your family, please remember that Terri Schiavo, though hanging onto life by a thread, is still starving to death. Please remember that, at this precise moment, her body hungers terribly, and she is suffering from gross dehydration. Remember that she is starving to death by court order.  Remember that the court ordered her to die even though she breathes freely without life support and smiles and responds to human interaction.
 
Remember also that 59% of evangelical Christians told TIME MAGAZINE that they believed it was acceptable for her to be starved anddehydrated.  When you remember this, consider also the words of the Author of our Faith, the Lord Jesus Christ who said:

      And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these
      little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of
      a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no
      wise lose his reward. (Matt. 10:42)

      And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily
      I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto
      one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done
      it unto me. (Matt. 25:40)
 
Our generation is presiding over the single greatest legal and cultural attack on the biblical family in the history of Christendom. One out of four Americans are not here. They were aborted by their parents.  For the first time in the recorded history of the West, a generation of children is emerging which may never know a world in which marriage is recognized as one man and one woman for life. The ethical chaos and war on the family seems to know no boundaries. We are now told that it is merciful and dignified to starve women and children -- even our very parents -- simply because they are dependent, infirm, disabled, or handicapped. Before our very eyes, we
are daily confronted with ever-more horrifying legal and cultural triumphs of the proponents of the culture of death and their relentless war on the weak. All of this is happening on our watch.
 
My thesis is this: Whether or not the present war on the weak blossoms into a full-blown, irreversible culture of death has more to do with the ethics and character of the Church of Jesus Christ than it does with the rise of humanism, post-modernism, or any other ism. The Church is the centerpiece of history, the salt of the earth, and the primary means for restraining evil and blessing nations. When the people of God are faithful, focused, and unified, nations prosper -- because we are not, chaos reigns.

"Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people." Proverbs 14:34
 
There are few significant statistical variances between the behavior of professing Christians and non-Christians on issues of family and life. A recent Barna report indicates that there are no fundamental differences in the training of children between Christians and non-Christians within our society.  In the thirty-two-year wake of ROE v. WADE, we have witnessed the widespread acceptance by Christians of the belief that children are a burden, as well as the related acceptance of the use of abortifacient contraceptives. (No one knows the millions of souls that have been aborted by Christians simply through their use of the Pill.) Not surprisingly, TIME MAGAZINE now reports that a majority of evangelicals support the forced dehydration and starvation of Terri Schiavo. 
 
How this generation of pastors and parents respond to the murder of Terri may be one of the most important legacies we leave to our posterity. We must confront these issues head on, or we will risk searing the collective conscience of American Christians regarding the sanctity of life, thus opening a philosophical and legal floodgate of euthanasia, assisted suicide, and privatized eugenics in the form of ruthless killing of the disabled, the handicapped, the elderly, and the unwanted members of our society. The purpose of this report is to help believers sort through the relevant ethical issues.
 
There are five things you must know about the crime which is ongoing in Pinellas Park, Florida: First, an innocent woman is being cruelly tortured and murdered contrary to the law of God, the law of the land, and the law of the state. Second, those individuals most complicit in the torture and murder of Terri have diabolical agendas. Third, there is an immediately available biblical, constitutional, and legal remedy. Fourth, the inability of Christian attorneys and leaders to reach a biblical consensus on the meaning of "the rule of law" has rendered our efforts to save Terri impotent, has spread confusion within the body of Christ, and will be the undoing of our legal and
political efforts in the future unless it is resolved. Fifth, they are coming next for you.

Stay tuned for Part II of this article coming soon.