Go down, Moses
Way down in Egypt land
Tell old Pharaoh
Let my people go.
You may have heard of Alfie Evans. He is a sick little boy in the UK, just shy of his second birthday, who is in a coma with an unknown neurological disease. He was on a ventilator, until this Monday 23rd, when the UK courts decreed that it be removed. He was expected to die shortly afterward. Instead, he breathed on his own and kept on doing so.
The pope expressed support for him.
Moved by the prayers and immense solidarity shown little Alfie Evans, I renew my appeal that the suffering of his parents may be heard and that their desire to seek new forms of treatment may be granted.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) April 23, 2018
Soon after the Italian government extended Italian citizenship to the boy, and provided a military helicopter to airlift him to the Vatican-owned Bambino Gesù hospital in Rome.
But the judges in the UK deemed Alfie’s life not worth living. Not only did they discontinue his treatment in the UK, but they prevented him from going to Italy for treatment. They thought it pointless to prolong his life – pointless and inhumane.
The parents disagreed. But who were they? Only parents. The courts knew better, and in their expert opinion, what the child needed was not more care, but an early death.
Go Down Moses is an old African-American spiritual. It’s taken from the Biblical account of the Exodus, when the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, and Pharaoh had all the newborn Israelite boys thrown into the Nile to drown.
He was Pharaoh, after all, the god-king. And weren’t those Hebrew babies his property, to dispose of as he pleased?
Remember, the courts know best. Once they decide that death is in your child’s best interest, death is what your child will get. Nobody else is allowed to interfere. And they’ll claim the moral high ground while they fend off those who want to save your child’s life.
LET MY PEOPLE GO.
#ReleaseAlfieEvans
Thanks for all information but don’t forget https://t.co/oT3kXEpJuL
— Paul (@avinumalkeinu) April 26, 2018
It’s your XYZ.