CLEARWATER, Fla. (ABP) — 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 was officially resigning 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 and his publicly stated disagreements with church decisions.
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 to the church in the fall of 2003.
Calvary is one of the Florida Baptist Convention's most prominent conservative congregations. Rice, who has been the church's pastor since last fall, has written a guest editorial in the Florida Baptist Witness comparing Schiavo's fate to that of his severely disabled sister.
According to the St. Petersburg paper, Greer's decision to become inactive in the church was sealed by its continued support for the Witness, one of the most conservative state newspapers in the Southern Baptist Convention. Its editor, James Smith, has repeatedly opined against Greer's decisions in the Schiavo case, calling the judge “dead wrong” in one recent editorial.
Calvary purchases group subscriptions to the Witness for church members.
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 She died March 31, nearly two weeks after Greer ordered the tube withdrawn.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 also reportedly told Greer that he was “truly saddened and embarrassed by the level of harassment and vitriolic nature of so many comments that purportedly come from people of faith.” But, he added, “you must know that 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.”
Rice was unavailable for comment by press time April 1. His assistant directed a reporter to two church press releases dealing with the situation. One notes that Greer's decision to withdraw his membership “was completely voluntary” and that the church would “continue to pray for Judge Greer and all those involved in the tragic case of Terri Schiavo. As we have previously stated, our church has long been committed to the sanctity of human life.”
Greer's office did not return phone calls requesting an interview and copies of the letters by press time April 1.