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: For it belongs to God alone to pronounce sentence of death and life, according to Dt. 32:39, "I will kill and I will make to live." { 2} In the Middle Ages and through the Reformation, both law and popular practice forbade Christian burial of suicides and allowed the confiscation of property and desecration of the body. { 3}
During the Enlightenment, philosophers began to base ethical decisions on reason and utilitarian concerns more than on Christian concerns. They came to varying conclusions. In 1783, the Scottish philosopher David Hume wrote an unpublished essay called "On Suicide," in which he challenged each of Thomas Aquinas' arguments and concluded that suicide "may be free of imputation of guilt and blame." On the other hand, Immanuel Kant wrote in 1785, "To annihilate the subject of morality in one's person is to root out the existence of morality itself from the world as far as one can, even though morality is an end in itself. Consequently, disposing of oneself as a mere means to some discretionary end is debasing humanity in one's person." { 4}
Modern Christian Views on Suicide
A BBC Religion and Ethics feature on euthanasia summarizes the Christian view as follows: Christians are mostly against euthanasia.