Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
Defined
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LNVzfJu
Qh0
Religion and Euthanasia
Religion and Euthanasia
• Religions typically have strong views regarding
euthanasia, and most are against it. Many
explanations are provided for death and dying
within religion and these events are often
marked with rituals and ceremonies to mark
death and in memory of those who have
passed. Religion can provide understanding
and comfort for those who have died.
Reasons religions are opposed:
• God has forbidden it-religions with a supreme
god believe they have been told in scripture not
to kill
• Human life is sacred-because God created each
life, and they should therefore be protected and
preserved
• Human life is special-human beings are made in
God’s image with special dignity and value, and
shortening life would interfere with God’s plan
Judaism and Euthanasia
• Jewish law regards euthanasia as murder and forbids it,
regardless of circumstance. All life is of infinite value,
and therefore, saving oneself or another from pain
through killing them is not acceptable. It is acceptable:
-to ask god to end a life in prayer
-for a doctor to perform a surgery that jeopardizes one’s
life (if it is believed that the surgery is likely to reduce
pain or extend life)
-doctors do not have a duty to artificially extend one’s life
if they are in pain and treatment cannot cure their illness.
Judaism and Euthanasia
The value of human life is infinite and beyond measure,
so that any part of life - even if only an hour or a second is of precisely the same worth as seventy years of it, just
as any fraction of infinity, being indivisible, remains
infinite.
Lord Jakobovits, former UK Chief Rabbi
...The message of Judaism is that one must struggle until
the last breath of life. Until the last moment, one has to
live and rejoice and give thanks to the Creator...
Dr Rachamim Melamed-Cohen, Jewsweek, March, 2002
Hinduism and Euthanasia
Hinduism focuses on the consequences of our
actions versus philosophical inquiries of what is
right and wrong.
Beliefs:
• -reincarnation of the soul (the next life is decided
by karma)
• -taking care of older members of community
• -it is important to have your life in a good state
before death, with no unhappiness or unfinished
business.
2 Hindu views on Euthanasia
• Helping someone to end their pain is
performing a good deed, which fulfils moral
obligations
• Ending a life disturbs the timing of the cycle of
death and rebirth. Those involved in the
euthanasia will take on the remaining karma
of the patient.
Catholicism and Euthanasia
• Birth and death should be respected, as they are
part of the life process given to us by God.
• Human beings are valuable and possess intrinsic
dignity and worth, regardless of mental or
physical abilities.
• We should care for those who
are dying, as well as those close
to them, and offer the best
palliative care.
Catholic Views on Euthanasia
• To suggest euthanasia for oneself or another is
to judge that the current life of an individual is
not worthwhile.
• The process of dying should not be disrupted,
as it is a spiritually important one. Such an
interruption would interrupt the process of
one’s spirit moving towards God.