Christian faith does not condone euthanasia
Should Christians condone euthanasia?
By ROLAND CHIA
IN THE modern world dying has
become a problem! The extraordinary advances in science and technology
have not only made it possible for doctors to alleviate pain but
also to extend life.
The possibility of being maintained on life support for months
and sometimes years has resulted in much anxiety in both elderly
and non-elderly patients. Patients and their families are increasingly
involved in medical decisions concerning the end of life. As a
result, patients, physicians, the public, and policy makers are
faced with complex and difficult questions: Should the terminally
ill patient be allowed to die? Should the medical profession have
the option of helping these patients to die?
The issue of euthanasia or physician-assisted-suicide is receiving
renewed attention and interest in recent years. The recent case
of Terri Schiavo and the public debate it sparked shows quite
clearly how clouded the question of euthanasia can become. (For
my comments please see, "A Life Deemed Useless: The Terri
Schiavo Case", Trumpet, May 2005, pp. 2, 8).
But renewed interest in this issue can also be attributed to the
fact that in recent years a number of European countries have
legalised the practice of euthanasia. For instance, on April 10,
2001, the Dutch Government approved the "Termination of Life
on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act".
And on May 28, 2002, Belgium passed an Act legalising euthanasia,
which went into effect on Sept 23, 2002.
What is euthanasia? Should Christians condone such a practice?
The American Medical Association's (AMA) Council on Ethical and
Judicial Affairs has defined euthanasia as:
… the act of bringing about the death of a hopelessly ill
and suffering person in a relatively quick and painless way for
reasons of mercy. In this report, the term euthanasia will signify
the medical administration of a lethal agent to a patient for
the purpose of relieving the patient's intolerable and incurable
suffering.
The Christian faith does not condone euthanasia because it maintains
that human life is a gift of God and has intrinsic and exceptional
value. The Christian faith's rejection of euthanasia is also established
upon the general prohibition against murder found in the sixth
commandment in the Decalogue (Exodus 20:13).
According to the Christian faith, each human being is made in
the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27) and given a special
vocation. Thus each human being has a unique role to play in the
drama of salvation of the world. This emphasis has led some 20th
century theologians like Karl Barth to argue that the dignity
of each individual person is profoundly related to his or her
uniqueness.
God has given each person a unique role to play at this time,
in this place and in this manner. And although that role may not
be glamorous, it is nonetheless special - it cannot be played
by any other person in all of history.
Furthermore, the Christian faith sees life as a "gift"
or a "loan" from God. The implication of this is that
the individual is not simply a master but a beneficiary. More
precisely, the individual is first a beneficiary before he or
she is a master. This means that the individual's life is not
at his or her disposal, but he or she must treat it with due care;
and due care must mean that nothing should be done to harm or
destroy it. These insights have informed and shaped the Christian
idea of the sacredness or the sanctity of life, and correlatively
its stringent prohibition against harming and destroying human
life.
Supporters of euthanasia have presented
two arguments why to their mind the practice is not morally unacceptable.
The first appeals to the principle of autonomy and self-determination:
the person requesting to be euthanised is exercising his or her
right to self-determination. This basic "right-to-die"
argument appears in its various permutations in pro-euthanasia
literature.
The problem with this argument is that if the "right-to-die"
is so fundamental, why restrict it only to those who are terminally
ill? Why not allow those who are in good health, but who feel
that their lives are not worth living, to euthanise themselves?
The second argument - to which
some Christians may be more sympathetic - is that euthanasia provides
compassionate relief from suffering. That is why it is sometimes
called "mercy killing". In response, we argue that although
suffering is to be resisted because it is not the expressed will
of God, human beings do not have the right to take a life in order
to relief suffering. The central principle which governs medical
ethics is "maximise care", and not "minimise suffering".
If it were the latter, then the elimination of sufferers would
indeed be justified. But the duty of the physician is "always
to care, never to kill".
This wisdom, enshrined in the Hippocratic Oath, is embedded in
the tradition of Western medicine for many centuries and should
serve as the moral compass for decisions concerning the end of
life. Thus the Declaration on Euthanasia of the World Health Organisation
(Madrid, 1987) states that "euthanasia, or the act of deliberately
putting to an end to a patient's life, either at the request of
the patient himself or at the request of his relatives, is immoral".
In similar vein, the Encyclical Evangelium vitae ("Gospel
of Life") issued by Pope John Paul II condemns euthanasia
because it is a "grave violation of the law of God, since
it is the deliberate and morally unacceptable killing of a human
person".
Dr Roland Chia is Dean of Postgraduate Studies and Lecturer
in Historical and Systematic Theology at Trinity Theological College.
He worships at the Fairfield Preaching Point in Woodlands.
QUOTE:
SANCTITY OF LIFE
'The Christian faith sees life as a "gift" or a "loan" from God. The implication of this is that the individual is not simply a master but a beneficiary … These insights have informed and shaped the Christian idea of the sacredness or the sanctity of life, and correlatively its stringent prohibition against harming and destroying human life.'