The Catholic bishops of England, Wales and Scotland have stepped up their efforts to fight efforts to introduce legal assisted euthanasia in the UK.
Scotland’s bishops joined Scotland’s Anglo-Saxon Church and Muslim leaders in signing a declaration to the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, strongly oppose the draft law liam macarthur Allowing terminally ill patients to demand that doctors and nurses help them commit suicide.
On the same day, the Bishops of England and Wales issued a strongly worded presentation to the Committee on Assisted Suicide at Westminster, warning MPs that changes to the law would seriously put the lives of vulnerable people at risk.
The Scottish statement came as the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill is due to be introduced to the Scottish Parliament later this year.
The three religious groups “remain steadfast in their opposition to assisted suicide and euthanasia” and called on MPs to “carefully consider the implications of this bill, voice their concerns and vote against it”.
He said the bill would “make it legal in certain circumstances for people to help themselves commit suicide.”
,Our religious traditions are imbued with the principle that helping the dying inevitably undermines the dignity of the human person, and to allow it would mean that our society as a whole loses its common humanity.”, says the statement.
“We mourn with those who mourn and we identify with those who are suffering,” he continued. “We recognize the true motivations of those seeking change, but we do not believe this is the right way to reduce suffering. There is a very real danger that, once legalised, these practices are aided by vulnerable people. may pressure them to choose the option of suicide,” the so-called slippery slope.
The statement further said: “The way similar laws are implemented in other countries and the impact their introduction will have on some of the most vulnerable people in our society, including the disabled and the elderly, will be extremely damaging. called to care for those who are suffering, not to end their lives.”
It was signed by Bishop John Keenan of Paisley, vice-chairman of the Bishops’ Conference, with Rev Ian Greenshields, moderator of the Church of Scotland, and Sheikh Hamza Khandwala, imam of Dundee Central Mosque, on behalf of the association. Scottish Mosques.
Euthanasia and assisted suicide are illegal throughout the UK and assisting suicide is punishable by up to 14 years in prisonUnder the Suicide Act of 1961.
However, euthanasia activists have been tireless in fighting for a change in the law.
In London, in his presentation before the select committee, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster John Sherrington, the senior bishop on end-of-life issues for the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, was blunt in his condemnation of assisted suicide.
He said: “Assisted suicide is inherently wrong and evidence from other jurisdictions shows that there cannot be a safe or limited assisted suicide law.
He added, “The Catholic Church teaches that life is a gift to be cherished and cherished at all stages until natural death and that it is morally wrong to intentionally end another person’s life, even at their request. ”
“The arguments in favor of legalizing assisted suicide are based on flawed notions of autonomy, compassion and ‘dignity in dying’,” he said.
“Appeals for assisted suicide are often based on a false vision of ‘compassion’ that fails to address the reality of suffering that is part of being human,” he said. “Those who advocate assisted suicide on the basis of so-called ‘dignity in death’ ultimately judge the value of human life according to its capabilities rather than its inherent worth.”
Bishop Sherrington said: “Legalizing the intentional killing of patients would seriously undermine the calling of health professionals to care for life to its natural end. The difficulty of accurately predicting the outcome of terminal illness creates a conflict between doctor and patient.” Trust will be undermined,” he concluded.
