Title: Christian Views of Euthanasia - ReligionFacts
Headings: Christian Views of Euthanasia
Christian Views of Euthanasia
What does Christianity teach about euthanasia?
Suicide in the Christian Bible
Suicide in Christian History
Modern Christian Views on Suicide
Anglican Views on Suicide and Euthanasia
Greek Orthodox Views on Suicide and Euthanasia
Article Info

Content: Writing in The Times, Dr Williams says that assisted dying involves other people in an act of suicide and suggests that the recognition of a legal right to assisted dying could entail a responsibility on others to kill. While conceding that the right to be spared avoidable pain is beyond debate, he says that once that has become a right to expect assistance in dying, the responsibility of others is involved. { 6} ## Catholic Views on Suicide and Euthanasia
The Roman Catholic Church remains firmly opposed to both suicide and euthanasia as moral options. The Catholic Encyclopedia entry on "suicide," published in 1912, describes suicide as a grave sin against God. It gives several reasons for this conclusion: Suicide implies the person is master of his body instead of God, shows a lack of charity for oneself, often leads to failures in parental or social duties or charity towards others, and is contrary to the natural instinct of all creatures for self-preservation. " That suicide is unlawful is the teaching of Holy Scripture and of the Church, which condemns the act as a most atrocious crime and, in hatred of the sin and to arouse the horror of its children, denies the suicide Christian burial." { 7}
On May 5, 1980, the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued an official "Declaration on Euthanasia," which reaffirmed the Church's prohibition of all forms of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. Performing euthanasia on another or allowing it for oneself is called a "violation of the divine law, an offense against the dignity of the human person, a crime against life, and an attack on humanity." { 8}
In the most recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2003), all forms of suicide and euthanasia remain strictly prohibited, but questions of moral culpability and eternal salvation are left open. {