Title: BBC - Religions - Christianity: Euthanasia
Headings: Euthanasia and assisted dying
Euthanasia and assisted dying
General Christian view
Life is a gift from God
Human beings are valuable because they are made in God's image
The process of dying is spiritually important, and should not be disrupted
All human lives are equally valuable
Exceptions and omissions
End of life care
The Roman Catholic view
The value of life
The right to die
Refusing aggressive medical treatment
Assisting suicide
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Content: Christianity requires us to respect every human being
If we respect a person we should respect their decisions about the end of their life
We should accept their rational decisions to refuse burdensome and futile treatment
Perhaps we should accept their rational decision to refuse excessively burdensome treatment even if it may provide several weeks more of life
End of life care
The Christian faith leads those who follow it to some clear-cut views about the way terminally ill patients should be treated: the community should care for people who are dying, and for those who are close to them
the community should provide the best possible palliative care
the community should face death and dying with honesty and support
the community should recognise that when people suffer death on earth they entrust their future to the risen Christ
religious people, both lay and professional, should help the terminally ill to prepare for death
they should be open to their hopes and fears
they should be open to discussion
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The Roman Catholic view
Euthanasia is a grave violation of the law of God, since it is the deliberate and morally unacceptable killing of a human person. Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 1995
The Roman Catholic church regards euthanasia as morally wrong. It has always taught the absolute and unchanging value of the commandment "You shall not kill". The church has said that: nothing and no one can in any way permit the killing of an innocent human being, whether a foetus or an embryo, an infant or an adult, an old person, or one suffering from an incurable disease, or a person who is dying. Pope John Paul II has spoken out against what he calls a 'culture of death' in modern society, and said that human beings should always prefer the way of life to the way of death. The church regards any law permitting euthanasia as an intrinsically unjust law. The value of life
Life is a thing of value in itself; it's value doesn't depend on the extent that it brings pleasure and well-being.