There is no definitive answer in this article. I am making some statements and asking some questions. Death on request or aid to suicide violates deeply-rooted moral beliefs of most faiths and is deemed ethically unjustifiable. These beliefs have most certainly influenced our civic laws. In Canada euthanasia and assisted suicide are forbidden. Ten years ago the Supreme Court of Canada ruled against physician-assisted suicide when Sue Rodriguez petitioned to end her life. Recent cases are again challenging that ruling? Journalists evoke approval of assisted death by emotionally describing the petitioners’ desire to leave their pain behind. Anti-doctor-assisted suicide proponents ask whether legalization implies a normalization and approval of euthanasia, turning it into an ordinary and established element of medical and clinical practice. Should this legislation be changed? If the ruling isn’t changed, and if the church continues to oppose this practice, it must realize a responsibility to suffering people, to help them deal with the experience of meaningless suffering. Civil libertarians assert that the right to life does not imply an obligation to live. This debate will not go away. They will say that neither from a legal nor a Christian point of view have we the right to oblige others to live or to go on living. Do we or don't we?
You ask some very important questions here, and it is hard to not respond to them, especially as no-one else has. I think there are two issues here: suicide and euthanasia (the latter when someone achieves their own wished-for death with help from someone else. I guess your later posting "Do we own anything?" would indicate an answer for the Christian. If he is God's, then he does not have the right to destroy his body, which is God's property.
ReplyDeleteBut we live in a civil, not theocratic society (and have no call to establish a theocratic society on our own). We have to have answers from what is called natural law in order to legitimately speak as to what the rules for our society should be.
The answer as to euthanasia is surely based on the principle "Thou shalt not kill." Not just Judaeo-Christian-influenced societies but all civilized societies recognize at leas theoretically that we should not kill, at least unless the killing is by the state in punishment for killing.
Practically we see the results of allowing euthanasia in such countries as the Netherlands and Belgium (see excerpt in
http://www.bcptl.org/?p=3831 ) where killing in the name of euthanasia has reached alarming proportions.
I realize I am not qualified to fully discuss this. Here are some links of interest:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/Martinuk+Friend+death+dignified+without+assisted/9109215/story.html
http://www.euthanasia.com/index.html
http://life.nationalpost.com/2013/10/09/don-hutchinson-euthanasia-a-settled-issue-still-up-for-debate/
Thanks Ted for the thoughtful interaction and for the e-links
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