jim wallis on schavio

i ran across the following quote in the lastest (april 6, 2005) issue of sojourner's sojo mail:

Personally, I cannot understand why parents willing to take care of their disabled daughter were not allowed to by a husband who had moved on to another life and family. Terri Schiavo was severely mentally disabled but was not dying, and we don't decide to end the lives of many similarly disabled people, even children, whose mental capacities greatly diminish their quality of life. As my wife, Joy Carroll, put it, "the issue is not their quality of life, but the ethical quality of our society." And in situations of medical, scientific, or legal complexity, the morally safer course is always to err on the side of life. However, it became painfully clear that for many political partisans the issue wasn't so much the life of this young woman but other related political issues and agendas. And a leaked Republican memo about firing up the conservative base of the party and even defeating Democratic opponents in Florida were way out of line.

wallis' point is not exactly about terri schavio, rather he is talking about being consistent across the board. we do not live in a very consistent society. thus our republicans love to protect fetuses and execute criminals while our democrats love to do the exact opposite. neither group can truly claim to be "pro-life." instead they are "pro" their political party. we really are a screwed up group of people.