Title: Religious Groups’ Views on End-of-Life Issues | Pew Research Center
Headings: Religious Groups’ Views on End-of-Life Issues
November 21, 2013
Religious Groups’ Views on End-of-Life Issues
Assemblies of God
Buddhism
Catholicism
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church)
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Episcopal Church
Hinduism
Islam
Judaism
National Baptist Convention
Presbyterian Church U.S.A.
Seventh-day Adventist Church
Southern Baptist Convention
United Church of Christ
Unitarian Universalist Association
United Methodist Church

Content: Keown, D. 2005. “ End of Life: The Buddhist View .” The Lancet, volume 366, pages 952-955. ( PDF)
Catholicism
The Roman Catholic Church strongly opposes physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. The church teaches that life should not be prematurely shortened because it is a gift from God, says John A. Di Camillo, staff ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, Pa. “We don’t have the authority to take into our hands when life will end,” he says. “ That’s the Creator’s decision.” Catholic thinkers like Di Camillo contend that the decision to take one’s own life often comes as a result of issues like poor pain management, despair and loneliness, or the feeling of being a burden on family and others. These conditions, he believes, can be addressed with better palliative and psychological care. “ We don’t give enough attention to people near the end of life because we’re afraid of the end of life and don’t want to come to grips with it,” Di Camillo says.