Church speaks up for protection of life

The section, ‘Protecting Life – Opposing Assisted Suicide’, summarises the Church’s position in the assisted suicide debate and provides a downloadable Powerpoint for use in churches.

Its introductory page states: “The Church of England is opposed to any change in the law, or medical practice, to make assisted suicide permissible or acceptable.

“Suffering, the Church maintains, must be met with compassion, commitment to high-quality services and effective medication; meeting it by assisted suicide is merely removing it in the crudest way possible.”

The section has been welcomed by the Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, who said Parliament had a “particular duty” to care for the “very many who in illness, pain, fear and loss of their faculties may be more vulnerable, compared with the resolute and articulate few, to the influence and persuasion of others or indeed to the persuasion of their own care and anxiety for their families”.

“This is especially important as distinguished voices are suggesting that dependent sufferers are ‘wasting the lives of those who care for them, and have a duty to die to stop being a burden on others’,” he said.

“No wonder that most disabled people, and their organisations, are passionately opposed to changes in the law relating to assisted suicide.

“Parliament also has a duty to defend the integrity and trustworthiness of the medical and nursing professions – again with an eye especially on the need of the most vulnerable to be able to trust those professionally engaged in their care.”

The section has been developed by the Mission and Public Affairs Division of the Archbishops’ Council. Its director, the Rev Dr Malcolm Brown, called on individuals to help protect those who may feel pressured into taking their own life.

“People who are used to choosing the direction of their own lives in every respect may not see the so-called right to end their life as a problem - but it can look more like a threat than a promise to people who are more used to having their lives shaped for them,” he said.

“Responsible citizens should unite to protect vulnerable people from being persuaded that their lives are worthless.”

The section links to a joint letter on the issue published in The Telegraph this week by the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Westminster the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, and Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks.

In the letter, the three leaders express their opposition to a proposed amendment to the Coroners and Justice Bill currently passing through Parliament that could make assisted suicide legal.

“It would surely put vulnerable people at serious risk, especially sick people who are anxious about the burden their illness may be placing on others,” they warn.

“Moreover, our hospice movement, an almost unique gift of this country to wider humankind, is the profound and tangible sign of another and better way to cope with the challenges faced by those who are terminally ill, by their loved ones and by those who care for them.”