Rita Marker, the head of the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide was my mentor, after dragging me kicking and screaming getting into this line of work. Having read her wonderful Deadly Compassion, I was shocked to my shoes, and offered to give ten percent of my time to the work fighting assisted suicide. Well, you all know how that story went.
I consider Rita to be one of the giants. In the eighties, when nobody else was paying attention, she saws the storm clouds looming and got to work. Without her prodigious efforts, I am convinced that euthanasia and assisted suicide would have spread far and wide by now.
Rita’s comments are always worth attending. Here is a short Q and A interview with her that I thought y’all might enjoy. And, heeere’s Rita.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…