Explain why religious people have a problem with transplant surgery.

Most Christians are in favour of transplants, however they would object to rich people in developed countries paying for organs from the poor. They believe this as they think Christians, who believe in the immortality of the soul, believe that the body is not needed after death and therefore its organs can be used to help the living. Another reason to support this argument is that Christians who believe in resurrection believe St. Pauls words that the body will be transformed and that the resurrected body will not need the physical organs. Further more, Jesus told Christians that they should ‘love thy neighbours’ and treat others, as they would like to be treated. These both justify reasons for transplants. The bible also is full of statements about not exploiting the poor.

However, some Christians are against transplant surgery using organs from the dead, but they accept transplants using organs from the living. They would not allow organs to be paid for. A reason for this is the Christian belief that organs such as the heart are essential part of the individual who has been created by God. They also believe transplanting from the dead into the living is unsurping the role of God and that humans do not have the right to do this. Another reason is that organs which can be used from the living is not vital and so can be used to obey Jesus’s command to ‘love thy neighbours.’ Organs should not be payed for as that is exploiting the poor, which is banned in the bible.

Some Christians do not agree with transplants at all and will not carry a donor card. They believe that transplants can ignore the sanctity of life. Life is created by God in his own image; therefore it is precious, holy, special and sacred. Because God gives life only he can take it away. They also believe that transplanting organs is unsurping God, which is forbidden. They agree with non-religious arguments against transplants; which are that it is very expensive and requires high level skills for a very few people. 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 problem of will surgeons who have a patient desperate for a transplant work to the best of their ability to save the life of a potential donor? It diverts resources from the prevention or less expensive cures which could improve the lives of far more people than a transplant. Finally, it causes trade in organs from the poor to the rich.

Although some Muslims are in favour of transplants, most are against because they believe transplanting organs from one person to another is against Gods will. Many Muslims strongly believe their body belongs to Allah, so they shouldn’t donate any part. They believe this as the Shari’ah (Muslim law) teaches that nothing should be removed from the body after death, so they oppose post-mortems. The Qur’an says that God has created the body of a person, so to take organs of a body and transplant them into someone else is acting as God, this is called shirk. The Muslim belief in the sanctity of life means that all life belongs to God, so only he can give and take it. Muslims also believe in the bodily resurrection so you will need all parts of your body in the next life.

Some Muslims allow transplant surgery using organs from living people because some Muslim laws say it’s permissible. A ruling, fatwa, was issued by the Muslim Law Council of the United Kingdom in 1995, saying Muslims could carry donor cards and have transplants. Also, Islam aims to do good, so if a close relative is dying, a transplant would be allowed, just the same as if a Muslim was starving to death, they would be allowed to eat pork.