The Florida judge who ordered Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube removed has resigned his membership in a prominent Southern Baptist church.
According to media reports, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer informed Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater that he resigned his membership after receiving a March 10 letter from the church’s pastor, Willy Rice.
According to the St. Petersburg Times, Rice wrote that, although he was “not asking [Greer] to do this,” that resigning his membership nonetheless “would seem the logical and, I would say, biblical course” given Greer’s inactive status in the congregation.
The pastor’s letter to Greer came after a March 6 profile of the judge appeared in the paper. In it, Greer noted that, although he had been very active in the congregation in the past, tensions over the Schiavo issue and others had caused him to stop attending services and contributing financially.
Calvary is one of the Florida Baptist Convention’s most prominent conservative congregations and has long been known for its commitment to the sanctity of human life, according to a church press release.
Greer is a Republican whom a “longtime friend” characterized in the St. Petersburg Times profile as being part of “the Religious Right.” However, many conservative religious leaders have criticized him heavily for his decisions finding that Schiavo would want to have the feeding tube sustaining her removed. She died March 31, nearly two weeks after Greer ordered the tube withdrawn.
Rice, who was unavailable for comment April 1, reportedly wrote Greer, “in all likelihood it is this case which will define your career and this case that you will remember in the waning days of life. I hope you can find a way to side with the angels and become an answer to the prayers of thousands.”
After Greer announced his withdrawal of membership, a church announcement called the decision “completely voluntary.”
(ABP)
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