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____________________________________________________________________________________________ M ay 7, 1997 * T he P ortland O bserver
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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