by
Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 18, 2005
Clearwater, FL (LifeNews.com) -- The judge in the Terri Schaivo
case who reissued an order Friday that prompted Terri's feeding tube
to be removed for a third time has withdrawn his membership in a local
Baptist Church.
William
Rice, the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater, Florida, confirmed
the news to the Baptist Press news agency on Friday.
Rice said he received a letter from Greer Thursday confirming he has rescinded his long-standing membership after the church. The Greer letter came days after Rice made public comments in news reports disagreeing with Greer's decisions related to Terri.
Rice said the two exchanged letters about the nature of Greer's church affiliation after the judge commented publicly about his religious views.
The pastor told Baptist Press he had offered to meet with Greer and received the letter as a response.
According to a St. Petersburg Times news report, Greer, earlier this month, said he told a church deacon, "If I don't like what the St. Pete Times writes about me, my only recourse is to cancel my subscription." He told the deacon he would no longer make donations to the church.
Rice told Baptist Press, “I felt like [the Times' comments] opened the door for me to write him and ask what kind of relationship he desired to have with the church."
“Our church has not had an antagonistic relationship with Judge Greer,” and he has not been publicly criticized at any church function, Rice said. “He has friends at the church on a personal level."
Greer's attendance at church began to decline when an official Florida Baptist State Convention publication, the Florida Baptist Witness, began running articles critical of Greer's decision.
Calvary Baptist Church places its newsletters inside the Witness magazine and sends it to its 1,500 members, including Greer.
