Last Friday the House of Commons voted to begin the process whereby Parliament may legalise assisted suicide. This marked a significant change in the way our society thinks of the individual, the way we live together and our concept of care. There are immediate dangers which emerge from the change in underlying principle.
Road towards paganism
The legalisation of same-sex marriage and the acceptance of transgenderism are symptoms of a society in decline, one which lost its way when it deliberately rejected its Christian foundation. Same-sex marriage was a rejection of the natural order. The legal fiction that a man could become a woman and a woman a man by merely wishing it were so is a rejection of science. The acceptance of physician assisted suicide is a rejection of humanity’s most basic right, the right to life. The UK has taken one more step down the road towards paganism.
We live in a society where literally nothing is sacred. There is no moral order, no line which we dare not cross. We have rejected the God who gives us parameters for life and instead have embraced the great god Self, a greedy god who, once worshipped, knows no limits and makes ever greater demands.
That we in a liberal society have decided to take this road by democratic means does not make it any less wicked than when implemented by a totalitarian fascist regime.
Like the Nazis, we have accepted the principle that there are certain lives not worth living. Many who voted for assisted suicide did so on compassionate grounds and out of sympathy for the very real suffering some encounter. Instead of bending every effort to help them and their loved ones in a dreadful situation, we have chosen out of ‘compassion’ to end their lives. That we in a liberal society have decided to take this road by democratic means does not make it any less wicked than when implemented by a totalitarian fascist regime.
A new religion
A ‘compassion’ that demands we be allowed to help end the life of another, no matter how well intentioned, is misplaced. Life is, and remains, God’s gift. To deliberately end a life, either our own or that of another, is to reject both the gift and the giver. Ultimately, this proposed legislation is the adoption of a new religion, one which sees humanity as disposable instead of valuable.
For most of our history we have followed the Christian principle that we must make sacrifices for those less fortunate. Today we are moving into the contrary position where those less fortunate will be persuaded, either directly or by social pressure, to sacrifice themselves for the more fortunate.
On the evidence of where right to die legislation has been enacted elsewhere, this could quickly slide into the treatment of those suffering from mental illness, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, and other conditions.
If the Terminally ill Adults (End of Life) Bill progresses to become law, we will have normalised the principle that state-sanctioned death is a final default position for treatment of the elderly, the vulnerable, the disabled. On the evidence of where right to die legislation has been enacted elsewhere, this could quickly slide into the treatment of those suffering from mental illness, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, and other conditions.
The Bill which went forward on the legislative path placed restrictions on the practice, but experience teaches that restrictions never last.
Expanding parameters
Whatever the initial criteria are, there will inevitably be cases on the outer parameters of what is permitted. When these cases on the edge are resolved it will expand the parameters. They become the new criteria, and so it gradually expands further and further. Eventually you reach the situation in Canada where doctors are permitted and willing to offer to help those with depression to kill themselves when there are no hospital beds available. Nothing remains as it begins.
We have seen this before. When abortion was legalised we were assured that it would be ‘legal, safe and rare’. Today it has almost become a sanctioned means of late birth control. If things continue in the UK as they have elsewhere, once begun this process will not stop, and the vulnerable will become even more vulnerable.
With the decrease of fertility rates in the West, we inevitably face population decline. This means that a smaller proportion of the young and economically active will have to support a larger proportion of the elderly and economically dependent. It is wishful thinking to suppose that this will not result in social pressure on the old to commit state-sanctioned suicide.
It is wishful thinking to suppose that this will not result in social pressure on the old to commit state-sanctioned suicide.
Campaigners are concerned that the elderly may be ‘persuaded’ to commit suicide by heartless relatives. Only the naive would imagine that this would never happen. It works the other way as well. As a society we will move into a position where the elderly fear becoming a burden to their own children and grandchildren. Their children and grandchildren will have the appalling task of trying to convince elderly and ill parents and grandparents not to commit suicide: ‘No, granny, we want you to be with us. We love you and will take care of you.’
This proposed legislation sows mistrust throughout society, not only within families. Trust between doctor and patient will be eroded: the sustainers of life will have become also the takers of life.
The most basic function of the state is to protect its citizens. Can we trust the state to protect us when it sanctions our death?
Read also this excellent indepth article by Christian Concern.
The Rev. Dr Campbell Campbell-Jack is a retired Church of Scotland minister; now a member of the Free Church of Scotland. Check out his many incisive articles on his blog, A Grain of Sand.
