Explain why religious people may have problems with transplant surgery.

               There are many disagreements amongst Christians when it comes to transplant surgery. Some accept the use of organs from the dead and living donors, some from only live ones and some like Roman Catholics and most evangelical Protestants completely reject all transplants. Most Christians agree with transplant surgery, and many carry donor cards so their organs can be used for others after death.

               Some Christians would allow dead and live transplants. They have carry this view because Christians believe in the immortality of the soul and so they believe that the body is not needed after death and therefore its organs can be used to help the living, they believe St Paul’s words that the body will be transformed and the resurrection body will not need the physical organs and also Jesus told Christians that they should love their neighbours and treat others as they would wish to be treated by them which justifies transplants

               Other Christians are opposed to transplant surgery using organs from dead people, but they accept using organs donated by living relatives. They would not allow such organs to be paid for as it is seen to be exploiting the poor which is a sin in the Bible. The reasons for this attitude are based on the Christian belief that organs such as heart are an intrinsic part of the individual who has been created by God, transplanting organs from the dead in to the living is usurping the role of God and humans do not have the right to act as God and organs that can be used from the living are not vital and so can be used to obey Jesus’ command to love your neighbour.

               Some Christians do not allow transplants of any sort and will not carry a donor card. The reason for this attitude is that they believe that the transplants can ignore the sanctity of life, they believe that transplanting organs is usurping God’s role and it is considered a great sin to play God and they also agree with all the non- religious arguments against transplants. This has been shown in the high profile case of the Siamese twins Mary and Jodie. Some of the non religious arguments against transplant surgery are that it raises the problem of when someone is dead as such things as heart transplants require the heart to be removed before it has stopped beating, it raises the moral and emotional problem of: will surgeons who have a patient desperate for transplant work to the best of their ability to save the life of a potential donor? It diverts resources from prevention or less expensive cures which could improve the lives of far more people than a transplant and also it causes the trade of organs amongst the poor to the rich.

               Like Catholics most Muslims are opposed to transplant surgery and will not carry donor cards. They believe that transplanting organs from one person to another is against Gods will. They have this belief because the Shari’ah teaches that nothing should be removed from the body after death and opposes post-mortems there for directly suggesting that organs should not be removed from dead Muslims, the Qur’an says that God has created the body of a person and so to take parts from one body and put them in to another is to act as God which is considered the greatest sin in Islam, the Muslim belief in the sanctity of life means that all life belongs to God and only God has the right to give and take life and they would also agree with the non religious arguments about transplants.

               On the other hand some Muslims would allow transplant surgery using organs from a living donor as long as the donor is a close relative. They have this attitude because some Muslim lawyers have said that it is permissible, a ruling fatwa, was issued by the Muslim law council of the United Kingdom in 1995 saying that Muslims could carry donor cards and have transplants, Islam aims to do good and is not intended to put burdens on people which they can not bear for example if a close relative is dying and a transplant would save them, then it should be given. They would also agree with the non religious arguments in favour of transplants.

               Most Christians accept transplant surgery from living and dead people because they would argue that their organs are not needed in the after life, that it brings life out of death and they believe in loving their neighbours which for them justifies the transplant surgery of a living or dead donor. The Christians who accept organs donated only by living close relatives would argue that transplanting the organs from the dead in to the living is usurping or playing the role of God and organs that can be transplanted from the living are not vital so they can still obey Jesus’ command of loving your neighbour. Roman Catholics and most Evangelical Protestants do not believe in any sort of transplant. Christians who don’t agree with transplant surgery at all believe that transplants ignore the sanctity of life, they believe it is like playing God which is a sin and they also agree with all the non religious arguments against transplant surgery. In Islam most people are opposed to transplant surgery because they believe it is against Gods will. They base their decision on the Shari’ah laws, the Qur’an, the Muslim belief in the sanctity of life and they also agree with the non religious arguments against transplants. However some Muslims allow transplant surgery as long as the donor is a living close relative. They allow it because a fatwa was issued saying that Muslims could carry donor cards, the aim of Islam is to do good and help people and they also agree with the non religious arguments in favour of transplants.