Title: Religious Perspectives On Euthanasia - Institute of Clinical Bioethics
Headings: Religious Perspectives On Euthanasia
Religious Perspectives On Euthanasia
General Christian View
Position of Protestant Denominations
Episcopal:
Presbyterian Church in America:
Mainline and Liberal Christian denominations:
Position of Judaism
Position of Islam

Content: Mainline and Liberal Christian denominations: Position of Judaism
Euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, and all other types of suicide are almost unanimously condemned in Jewish thought, primarily because it is viewed as taking something (a human life) that belongs to God for “only He who gives life may take it away.” For Judaism, human life is, “created in the image of God.” Although life is considered to be God’s creation and good, human life is related to God in a special way: it is sacred. The sanctity of human life prescribes that, in any situation short of self-defense or martyrdom, human life must be treated as an end in itself. It may thus not be terminated or shortened because of considerations of the patient’s convenience or usefulness, or even sympathy with the suffering of the patient. Thus euthanasia may not be performed either in the interest of the patient or of anyone else. Jewish law strongly condemns any act that shortens life and treats the killing of a person whom the doctors say will die in any event to be an act of murder. Positive euthanasia is thus ruled out.