Death Marks an Anniversary—Have We Learned Anything?
Albert Mohler
Friday, March 31, 2006

Today, March 31, 2006, marks the one year anniversary of Terri Schiavo's death by starvation. All too quickly, Terri's name and cause disappeared from the national awareness as our attention-deficit culture moved on to other issues and other concerns.

Just in time for the anniversary of her death, publishers have released books written by Terri's former husband, Michael Schiavo, and her parents--each offering competing visions of Terri's life and the meaning of Terri's death. Given the symbolic nature of this sad anniversary, another flurry of news stories, cable news programs, and media commentaries are likely to appear. But, has America learned anything about the sanctity of human life over the past twelve months?

There are signs that Americans may actually be resigning themselves to the inevitability of euthanasia and the Culture of Death. In the aftermath of Terri Schiavo's death, a wave of commentary appeared, offering the suggestion that what Americans should have learned from the controversy was that personal autonomy should triumph over all other moral concerns and priorities. Beyond this, others have been quick to point accusing fingers at political figures, including George W. Bush, who attempted to intervene on behalf of Terri's life. the rest