Is assisted suicide really that bad?

Part of my role at Christians Action, Research and Education (CARE) involves travelling and speaking at different churches and conferences around the UK. I’m frequently asked to speak on issues around the end of human life.

This means covering both assisted suicide, but also palliative care and clearing up some misunderstandings about what happens when someone dies.

I’m increasingly struck that at every church and seminar there is always one hand that goes up in the Q&A and the person admits that they really struggle with the historic, orthodox Christian position on assisted suicide. This has proven true at men’s meetings, whole church gatherings, small groups and prayer meetings.

Often the person is a believer and follower of Jesus. They preface what they say by acknowledging that they know what they should believe. But invariably they reference hard cases – either from the news, or from their own experience – and honestly admit they wonder, deep down, if assisted suicide is really so bad.

Reacting with compassion

When I started out working for CARE and speaking on this topic, I used to react to such comments in an unwise fashion. I would feel myself bristle and then I would load up my machine gun and fire truth bullets as fast as I could.

But the more I have engaged on this topic, the more I have tried, albeit imperfectly, to adjust my approach. When we talk about assisted suicide, we are talking about subjects that prompt deep sensitivities and emotions. You have to discuss both death and dying and also suffering as well. These are serious, somber themes. In any environment I am in where this topic is under discussion, I want to remember there will be hurting people there who have walked with a loved one through pain, suffering and death.

So I have not changed my view – far from it! – but I have tried to adopt a more compassionate tone. Surely this is the example Jesus gives us, because He came from the Father, full of grace and truth. We are not forced to choose between being civil and having strong convictions. In fact, it is a distinctive, counter-cultural part of our witness to combine both.

Reacting with righteous anger

Yet assisted suicide is also a policy idea that draws out, for me at least, varying degrees of righteous anger. Here is a policy that fundamentally alters the relationship between the patient and the state. If legislation is passed, for the first time in its history, NHS staff will have the legal right to help patients who meet certain criteria, kill themselves. It is a policy that will harm the frailest in our communities. It is the opposite of compassionate. It is the opposite of healthcare and runs contrary to the Hippocratic Oath which has been the moral basis for healthcare in the West for generations.

Balancing righteous anger with an appropriate compassionate tone is not always easy. I still do not always get it right. I am deeply thankful for the hope we find in God’s word of a better story when it comes to assisted suicide and the end of life. Dignity is not extrinsic and liable to change dependent on circumstances. Our dignity flows from who we are: image bearers of God Himself. But suffering is also never wasted. Even the most brutal, difficult, traumatic suffering is achieving for us an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs everything else (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

It looks like Third Reading of the Leadbeater Assisted Suicide Bill will be delayed until May. Please pray on this Bill will be defeated. Please keep writing to your MP, urging them if they voted yes to change their vote, and if they voted no, to show up and do so again.