Is euthanasia incompatible with Christian belief and practice?

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Emily Tamhne        

Is euthanasia incompatible with Christian belief and practice?

Euthanasia is the intentional killing by act or omission of one whose life is deemed not worth living. It consists of two Greek words, which are ‘eu’ and ‘thanatos’ which mean a good and gentle death. It doesn’t just refer to dying as simply and as pleasantly as possible but in some cases it can be called assisted suicide. There are different types of euthanasia and many moral, ethical and religious problems associated with it.  

Euthanasia is used mainly in institutions where death is chosen deliberately because the person is unwilling to carry on living. There are a number of arguments as to the incompatibility of what Christians believe about euthanasia, but because euthanasia is deemed to be killing, many Christians therefore are against all types of euthanasia because they feel it is wrong.  

        There are four types of euthanasia: passive, active, voluntary and involuntary. Passive euthanasia means that treatment is withdrawn from the patient purposefully so that they will die. Active euthanasia means that a doctor will actively take part in the killing of a patient. Voluntary euthanasia means that the patient who is probably suffering from a terminal illness, actually requests death. Involuntary euthanasia means that the patient is killed by a doctor without consent because they could be in a coma and obviously unable to give consent. Dying with dignity is important for all and it lies at the heart of traditional approaches to the care of the terminally ill, but euthanasia involves the will to self-destruct, which characterises suicide. It raises further ethical, practical and religious problems for the physician, nurse or whoever carries euthanasia out.

        Euthanasia is illegal in Britain although passive euthanasia is performed when life support machines are turned off when a patient is obviously dead. Apart from this, there are still numerous medical dilemmas associated with it as well as religious dilemmas. If a doctor stopped a patient’s medical treatment in order to let them die then the relatives would be able to sue and so the doctor can make a legal decision as a safeguard to go to a court of law and ask for a ruling on whether or not to continue with treatment. In previous years an all party committee agreed that the law should not be changed to allow euthanasia because the law could be and would be abused by many people and it would be impossible to decide if an act of voluntary euthanasia was voluntary. ‘To distinguish between murder and mercy-killing would be to cross the line which prohibits any intentional killing, a line which we think it essential to preserve’ which is what was said in the committee. A person in Britain is also legally able to refuse any treatment as long as they are competent enough to do so. In some countries, such as Holland, euthanasia is practised but professional doctors can only perform it on terminally ill patients. The problem with euthanasia being legalised is that it could be taken advantage of and that is probably part of the reason why the British government, as well as many Christians are against it. ‘It would be next to impossible to ensure that all acts of euthanasia were truly voluntary and that any liberalisation of the law was not abused’

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        To Christians as well as other people, dying is a very natural thing, which everyone will face someday. Naturally many people are afraid of dying and have a strong will to live, so death is seen as the enemy. Some Christians though, who are suffering in great pain may not feel that way and welcome the idea of a pain free and peaceful death which will end their pain and suffering. Some Christians believe that this would be a compassionate, loving thing to do because if someone is in so much pain then why allow them to continue to suffer ...

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