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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1997)
9 • P age B4 ____________________________________________________________________________________________ M ay 7, 1997 * T he P ortland O bserver r> r Religiousfaith influences doctors’ practice o f euthanasia Non-religious doctors more likely to favor euthanasia than those with religious principles. On “ E . R . ” , one o f netw ork television’s highest rated shows, doctors regularly go to heroic lengths to save the lives o f their dying pa tients. O ddly enough, many real life doctors are now taking great pains to help their patients die. In f act, a recent study from Australia - where euthanasia is illegal - found that one fourth o f all doctors took active steps to hasten patients' deaths. Fur thermore, doctors who termed them selves athe ists or agnostics were most lik e ly to purposely bring on a patient’s death at a patient's re quest. Actively expediting the death o f a patient -- not just withholding or stopping life-sustaining treatment- was undertaken 62% more often by physicians who said they had no religious faith in this recent survey o f more than 1,200 randomly se lected physicians. “O f all medical practitioners who had been asked to do so, more than one quarter acknow ledged that they had taken steps to hasten death,’ the researchers from the University o f New South W ales com m ented. “Those doctors claim ing to be ag nostic or atheist were more likely to favor and to practice euthanasia and those who identified with any reli gion were more likely to be op posed.” Agnostics and atheists were more than twice as likely to know o f other doctors who practiced active eutha nasia, despite the illegal status, and were more than three times more likely to think actively hastening a patient’s death was “ sometimes rig h t” than those doctors who claimed some religious affiliation. View s o f doctors from varying religions were then analyzed sepa rately to see how their views might differ. The study found Jewish phy sicians “ sympathetic almost to the same degree’ as the agnostic and atheist doctors. Catholic doctors were most opposed, while Protestants fell midway between. Studies in the U.S. sim ilarly found Catholics most op posed to active euthanasia. What formed the basis o f the doc tors decisions? P h ysician s who thought actively hurrying the pa tients’ death was sometimes right based their views on non-religious ethical principals 74% o f the time, the study found. Doctors w ho thought administering doses for death was never right based their views on religious principles 8 l% o fth e time. Still, despite specific teachings o f most established religions opposing euthanasia and suicide, almost a quarter o f doctors with a religious affiliation had also engaged in it, including 18% o f Catholics. Because the study only measured religious affiliation and not strength o f commitment, “views may have differed among physic ians who were actively involved in their religion compared to those who were n ot-a question for future research,” noted Dr. David Larson, president o f the National Institute for Healthcare Research (N IH R ). Baume, Peter, O ’Malley, Emma, and Bauman, Adrian (1995). “ Pro fessed Religious Affiliation and the Practice o f Euthanasia.” Journal o f Medical Ethics, 21:49-54. ‘Evangelist sums up career Portland Archbishop Francis George (left) begins duties this week as the archbishop of the Chicago diocese, the second largest congregation of Roman Catholics in the United States. George was named to the post by Pope John Paul II. A success to George in Portland has not yet been named. Creators o f hope celebrated On Friday, May 9, as part o f its 85th anniversary of serv ing the needs o f the nation’s developmentally and emotionally disabled children, ado lescents and adults. Die Devereux Foundation w ill honor three Am eri cans who have helped create “com munities o f hope” throughout the nation. During Devereux’s anniversary gala at the Franklin Institute, Presi dent Ronald P. Burd w ill present the Helena T. D evereux M em orial Award for enhancing “human po tential and dignity” to Tipper Gore, U .S. Senator Arlen Specter and Teresa Heinz, chairman o f the Heinz Foundation. “Each o f these honorees has worked at-risk for emotional, behavioral and developmental d ifficu lties. In addition to the three honorees, a host o f other civic and business lead ers will serve as honorary chairper sons for Devereux’s 85th anniversary celebration. They include Philadel phia Mayor Ed Rendell, U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, U.S. Representatives Curt Weldon and Jonathon Fox, State Senator D en n is O ’ B rie n , and Devereux’s Board o f Trustees. Founded in 1912, The Devereux Foundation is now the nation’s larg est private, non-profit provider o f treatment services for individuals o f all ages who have a wide range o f emotional disorders and develop mental disabilities. tirelessly to advance the cause of indi viduals with special needs — espe cially children, just as our founder Helena Devereux did 85 years ago when she became the country’s first special education teacher, here in the Philadelphia School System,” said Burd. “ It w ill be with great pleasure that I present our memorial award to these three very visible examples o f how our nation’s leadership can in deed help build communities of hope for people across the country who have special needs.” A cco rd in g to Burd, the honor ees were chosen for their interest in and advocacy for ch ild ren ’s is sues and their work to improve the quality o f life for persons who are Jew ish group joins legal battle A leading Jewish rights organi zation said Friday that it has joined the legal battle to force an Alabama judge to remove the Ten Com mand ments from the wall o f his court room. The New York-based American Jewish Congress said it was con cerned about the actions o f Etowah County Circuit Judge Roy Moore because both he and Alabama Gov. Fob James have vowed to defy any court order to dismantle the Ten Commandments display. "The case has become symbolic o f much more than the Ten C o m mandments. The judge and the gov ernor have made this into a major test o f the principle o f church and state," said Marc Stern, an attorney with the group. On Thursday the American Jewish two to three months. Gov. James, a conservative Re publican firebrand, has vowed to call out the National Guard to stop the Ten Commandments plaque from being taken down if the state high court were to order its removal. Moore him self has said he would not comply with an unfavorable rul ing from the state Supreme Court, claim ing it is his duty under the U.S. Constitution to acknowledge the Judeo-Christian God, even to the exclusion o f those o f other religions. Congress filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Alabama state Supreme Court on behalf o f the American Civil Liberties Union (A C L U ). Since 1995 the A C L U has been waging a legal campaign to remove a plaque bearing the Ten Command ments from the wall behind Moore's bench in Gadsden, Alabama and to stop the jurist from opening court proceedings with prayer. The c iv il rights group contends that both the display and the prayers violate the U .S. Constitutional sepa ration o f church and state. Earlier this year a state judge ruled in the A C L U ’s favor by order ing the prayers stopped and the Ten Commandments taken down. But the Alabama Supreme Court later stayed the ruling, pending a hearing expected to take place over the next Court rejects school vouchers The first program in the nation to offer poor parents vouchers to send their children to religious schools was declared unconstitutional Thursday by a state appeals court. The Ohio District Court o f A p peals ruled 3-0 that the program - under way in Cleveland - advances religion in violation o f the separation o f church and state. Hie $5.5 million program began last fall, giving low- income parents $2,500 to help them send their children to private schools, including those religious schools. Parents of about 2,000 public school students in kindergarten through third grade received vouchers to attend one o f 53 private schools. Eighty percent Q & a fe ly C e to n ie Alice (Cole) Muldrew, 1915-1997 Sister A lc ie Muldrew the 8th o f eleven chil dren was a native of Sim m s, T e xa s. She was born to the par entage o f Dave and Mattie (G riffin ) Cole on A p ril 5, 1915. A lcie Muldrew was married to W illie Ed Muldrew, Sr., and to this union was born five sons. Her parents and husband preceded her in death. She was a member o f Walker Chapel C M E Church and believed strongly in the Power, Grace and Love o f God and Jesus Christ. Her long life struggle was to provide for her boys and raise her sons to be God fearing, God believing men A s with all mothers, A lc ie 's love for children was everlasting A sk B illy Graham his greatest surprise in life, and his reply is immediate: “The brevity o f it.” He is 78; his hands are weak ened and his balance sometimes shaky from Parkinson’s disease. But to him and to many o f his followers, it seems like only yester day that he was the young broad- shouldered, square-jawed fiery evangelical, meeting President Truman in the Oval O ffice or lead ing a 16-week crusade at Madison Square Garden in the '50s. However, even as he continues to lead crusades - the most recent in April in San Antonio - Graham recognizes the time has come for summing up one o f the most re markable evangelistic careers in American religious history. Tw o years ago, at Graham ’su rg ing, his son Franklin was appointed his successor-in-waiting as head o f the B illy Graham Evangelistic A s sociation. And this month comes the release o f his memoirs o f a remarkable life in ministry. “Just A s I A m : The Autobiogra phy o f B illy Graham” deals with much the same material biogra pher William Martin - who had the evangelist’s full cooperation - cov ered in 1991 in "Prophet With Honor: The B illy Graham Story.” The 760-page book recounts Graham’s experiences preaching to more than 230 m illion people in 180 countries and territories, in cluding his groundbreaking visits to places like the Soviet Union and North Korea. He recounts how he broke with prom inent fundamentalists to bu i Id a broad evangelical alliance that would eventually welcome Roman Catholics to his crusades. He de scribes his own efforts at seeking racial justice, from demanding that his crusades be integrated to en dorsing the Rev. Martin Luther K in g Jr. Am erica's pastor has also been a presidential chaplain, and his experiences - from advising Dwight The angel o f silence en tered into her life on the morning o f A p ril 17, 1997. A lice was the sister o f Birdie Lee (Cole) Taylor o f Portland, O R whom preceded her in death, in D ecem ber 1994. She leaves to cherish her beloved memory; Five so n s-W illie M Muldrew, Jr (w ife P am e la), Edw ard M uldrew, John Muldrew (w ife Wilma), Tom Muldrew (wife G lo ria), Curtis Muldrew (wife Etta), One sister: Dorothy (Cole) Gaddis o f Los Angeles, C A Twelve grandchi Idren, two great grandchildren, and a host o f nieces, nephew s, other re la tiv e s and friends o f the schools are religious. The appeals court, ruling on a chal lenge by a teachers union and a tax payer group, said the program is im permissible because it “provides di rect and substantial non-neutral gov ernment aid to sectarian schools.” “The only real choice available to most parents is between sending their child to a sectarian school and having their child remain in the troubled ClevelandCity School District,” Judge John C . Young wrote. “ Such a choice can hardly be characterized as 'genu ine and independent.’” Ohio was the first state to start a voucher program that included reli gious schools. 'ary Virginia Byrd ofNE Portland Eisenhower to back school integra tion to encouraging Gerald Ford to gran, former Richard Nixon a par don - add the ultimate insider’s per spective on the m ix o f religion and White House politics. In fact, if he could live his life over again, Graham writes in his autobiography, he would avoid any semblance o f involvement in parti san politics. The presidential staffs o f Nixon and Lyndon Johnson used him to some degree to further their re-election goals, he said in a recent telephone interview. What readers may find most strik ing about the autobiography is no, the oft-told tales o f public events, but the glimpses into the private life o f the man who has consistently over the past four decades made the list o f Am erica’s 10 most admired men. He takes you to the side o f his wife, Ruth, as he prays with her before an operation for spinal men ingitis. The Bible text Graham shares as he holds his w ife’s hand is not one promising the best possible tempo ral outcome, but the passage in the firs, chapter o f I Peter that speaks o f the “ lively hope” o f eternal life brought about by the Resurrection o f Jesus. “Those words reminded us o f the hope we have in Christ, assuring us that whether Ruth survived the op eration or not, God would always keep her in his loving care,” G ra ham writes. And he speaks candidly o f one o f his greatest regrets: leaving his ch il dren during their growing up years for months at a time. Once, during the summer o f 1960, he said it took him several minutes to realize “that the beautiful little child wandering out to greet us” after a long trip was his youngest son, Ned. Both Franklin and Ned Graham would go through rebel- liousperiodsduring which they used drugs, Graham said. “ Every day I was absent from my fam ily is gone forever,” Graham writes, regretting the time spent in meetings and engagements that seem less important with the pas sage o f time. In his remaining years, Graham said he wants to help the Clintons with their agenda o f meeting the needs o f the nation’s children. Children’s meetings have become a part o f his crusades, and Graham urges churches to focus their atten tion on children in need. “ I want to do far more than I have in the past in helping these children,” Graham said. Today, his sons are now leading in te rn atio n a l m in istrie s , and Franklin is becoming a successful evangelist on his own. And the father must face something he never thought much about: old age. In the 1950s, Graham said he thought he would no, live a long life because the pace o f his ministry was sure to k ill him. A s he ap proached his 60s, he thought he would end up like his father, who had the first in a series o f strokes at that age. Today, because o f Parkinson’s, he has some weakness in his hands that make him unable to write let ters. He has symptoms o f vertigo, and falls once in a while. Also, the doctors ask him to nap twice a day. But growing older is not so bad, Graham is finding out. For one thing, eternity is right around the comer. “ I know that soon my life w ill be over. I thank God for it, and for all He has given me in his life,” G ra ham writes. “ But I look forward to heaven.” When he gets there, Graham said, the second thing he plans to do with God is engage in a little Bible study, to ask about some o f the seeming contradictions in bib lical figures, and to find out the answers to such mysteries as how God can have no beginning and no end. Bu, first he has another ques tion. ‘The ‘P arent Tdentorproject The Parent Mentor Project o f Ecumenical Ministries o f Oregon is seeking volunteer mentors to work with mothers who are completing drug and alcohol treatment and raising young children. A mentor helps a mother learn parenting and other skills and stands by her as she establishes a new home for their family. Mentors are good listeners who understand issues related to parenting, recovery from addiction, low incomes, and domestic violence. To learn more about becoming a mentor, call Sylv ia Hart- Landsberg, parent mentor project Coordinator, at 235-3546. Cox Funeral Home 2736 N.E. Rodney, Portland, Oregon(503)281-4891 “Before You Must Make a Decision” Inspect the Beautiful Cox Funeral Chapel November 3 ,1 9 0 2 - April 2 5 ,1 9 9 7 Place of death was Foster Care Home. Cause of death was age related. Virginia was born in Allenville, Alabama and was married to Arthur Byrd whom pass away in 1990. Services were held Tuesday, April 29, 1997 at Rose City Cemetery. Internment will be at Rose City Cemetery. I “Planning your funeral is our first consideration. Equipped to serve all religions, races, veterans and fraternal organizations. ” --Jerome Tanner, Funeral Director
