c. 2005 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Reaction to the death Thursday (March 31) of Theresa Marie Schiavo, 41, nearly two weeks after the controversial removal of her feeding tube:

“Terri’s at rest now, that’s the most important thing to all of us, my family, that Terri is at peace, that she’s in a better place.”

_ Scott Schiavo, Terri’s brother-in-law, in a television interview

“In cases where there are serious doubts and questions, the presumption should be in the favor of life.”

_ President George W. Bush, who signed a bill last week attempting to halt tube removal

“After an extraordinarily difficult and tragic journey, Terri Schiavo is at rest.”

_ Jeb Bush, Republican governor of Florida

“At the behest of the religious right, Congress and President George W. Bush intervened in a place where they didn’t belong _ a personal family matter.”

_ The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State

“It’s a particularly sad day for anyone who is physically or mentally handicapped, or seriously and debilitatingly ill, and those who love them. The judiciary at the state and federal level condemned Terri Schiavo to death by dehydration and malnutrition on the hearsay evidence of a husband who is cohabiting with another woman whom he introduces as his fiancee and with whom he has produced two children.”

_ Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention

“Life is sacred and must be respected until the end. An attack against life is an attack against God, who is the author of life. The end of a life cannot be hurried. It is the most precious thing we have. I can say this in the light of common sense and of the Christian religion.”

_ Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, Vatican prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints

“Terri Schiavo never made her wishes clear, that she would want her feeding tube removed in this type of situation, yet an out-of-control state judge and an unfeeling husband decided that she should starve to death.”

_ Austin Ruse, president of the Culture of Life Foundation, a Washington-based research institute

“Terri’s memory might be best honored by conversations we have with each other about our end-of-life decisions _ what we want and what we do not want, the care we choose to receive and the caregivers who provide it.”

_ J. Donald Schumacher, president and CEO of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization in Alexandria, Va.

“At some point, a society that increasingly opts for death over life may find itself, in the coarse language applied to Terri Schiavo, in a `permanent vegetative state.’ ”

_ Dr. Joseph Capizzi, associate professor of theology, Catholic University of America in Washington

“It was clear from all who were involved in her case that Terri wanted to live and it is extremely disappointing that the legislative efforts made in the past two weeks did not succeed.”

_ Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, which represented Terri’s parents in the Supreme Court case

“It is undeniable that we are quickly slipping into a culture of death.”

_ Tony Perkins, president of the Washington-based Family Research Council, a politically conservative religious group

“We are all diminished by this woman’s death, a death that speaks to the moral confusion we face today.”

_ Cardinal William H. Keeler, chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee for Pro-Life Activities

“We are deeply saddened that the Schindler family found the life of their daughter in the hands of a merciless judicial system. Terri Schiavo’s battle to live will not be forgotten.”

_ Beverly LaHaye, founder of the Washington-based advocacy group Concerned Women for America

“Mr. Schiavo’s overriding concern here was to provide Terri a peaceful death with dignity.”

_ George Felos, attorney for Terri’s husband, Michael Schiavo

“I pray that Terri’s death leads us to a new understanding of the dignity of human life, that it encourages Catholics and indeed all people of faith to renew their commitment to care for the defenseless and that no person in our nation ever dies in this way again.”

_ Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, Catholic archbishop of Washington

“I feel sad, as we all do, for Ms. Schiavo and for her family. There are serious moral and ethical issues which tie us in knots. But spare me the moralizing and the pontificating. It only serves to accentuate the insincerity of the politicians and the misguided maneuvering of those who claim to speak for religion. They have manipulated the country over one at the expense of the many.”

_ Rabbi Jeffrey Wohlberg of the Washington-based Adas Israel Synagogue, in a sermon last week

“My sincere hope is that Terri has finally found peace.”

_ Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla.

“Our hearts go out to Terri Schiavo’s family. This is now a time to allow for mourning and healing and not to politicize her passing.”

_ Brian Levinson, Union for Reform Judaism, based in New York City

MO/PH END RNS