In the fifteen yrs that Terri Schiavo has been on life support,there have been many others who would have been viable,productive members so of US society who will have simply died because of lack of funds that Terri's treatment has used to nil effect.
It amazes me that those who believe in god, immortality and a better after life,cling to life so desperately,while agnostics and athieists accept death more readily.Why is this so?

This is so because those who believe in God also believe that only He creates life and only He takes life. Humans do not have any right to destroy life as each person is made by God for a reason known only to Him.

I think this exchange highlights the necessity to change our attitudes toward the faith/reason debate. It has previously been argued that ‘you cannot have ethics without religion’, but it is now becoming more and more clear that you cannot have sensible ethics with religious beliefs involved. Sam Harris’ new book ‘The End of Faith’ argues along these lines, and many more such works can be expected in the near future.

Good post Greg M. Many religous people support the death penalty eg George Bush Jnr. Yet he has personally involved the Fed Gov in the Shiavo case. Ethics aren't pure when fused with a religious agenda. As the Shiavo case has demonstrated. Hence, the need for separation of church and state.

I am also concerned that pro-life isn't about quality of life. I treated my old dog with more compassion than has been shown to Terri Shiavo. As an ambulance officer I see life and death choices as a part of my job, from what I have read about the condition of Terri's cerebral cortex that's all she has left and that is not a life that is a night mare she has been forced to endure for over 15 years.

No doubt the religious fraternity on this forum will indulge in the usual hysteria that their way is the right and only way.

Sorry mmaioyp, if it were up to God Terri would have been dead a long time ago. We are the ones that are interfering by artifically keeping her alive.

Terri is being fed and given water. She has been breathing on her own all along. Should a baby die because he cannot feed himself? How about an elderly person, or someone who is paralyzed? Should we let them starve to death too?
There is no proof that she is "brain dead". If she were, how was she able to recognize her family members? How did she laugh or become upset at times? How do we know she's not fully aware, trapped inside a body that will not move for her as she wants?
How do we KNOW that Terri is not in horrible pain? Nurses said they heard her moaning as she did when she had her "time of the month"--suffering from cramps.
Would you starve your pet to death? I doubt it because you know it is not painless.
How cruel have we become?