RELIGION AND LIFE 

2 - MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH 

The media - 

Shouldn't be free to criticise religious views on life and death - 

• Can stir up religious hatred - banned by Racial and Religious Hatred Act of 2007 (eg: Catholic Church told Catholics to withdraw support from Amnesty International for deciding abortion should be a human right for rape victims. Media reports chose examples that showed Catholic Church in bad light) 
• Religious believers - freedom of media should be restricted, can cause offence (eg: Danish newspaper published cartoons of prophet Muhammad in 2005/6) 
• Close to crime of blasphemy (eg: if media criticises Pope's etchings on abortion, they are condemning the Catholic Church) 
• Religious statements are based on what God says - beyond human criticism 

Should be free to criticise religious views on life and death - 

• Freedom of expression (basic human right), needed for democracy to work - need free media to be aware of options for voting, what is going on in the world and their own country - must be free to criticise religious attitudes 
• Religious leaders use media to make statements about matters of life and death (eg: on stem cell research) then they must be prepared for the media to criticise the statements 
• Multi-faith society (like UK), needs freedom of religious belief and expression - media must have right to question/criticise 
• Life and death and the issues surrounding it are important to everyone - can't be discussed/views chosen if religions were allowed to put forward views that no one else could criticise 

RELIGION AND LIFE 

2 - MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH 

Euthanasia - 

• Gentle and easy death for someone suffering from painful/deadly disease with little quality of life 
• Assisted suicide, voluntary euthanasia, non-voluntary euthanasia 
• British law - all of these methods are murder 
• Law - stopping artificial feeding/not giving treatment (passive euthanasia) are legal 

Why it is controversial - 

1 - Want it to remain illegal 

• Will always be the doubt of if it is what the person really wants 
• A cure may be found before the disease ends the life 
• Job of doctors to save lives, not end them - trustworthy? 
• People might change their mind when it is too late 
• Would be hard to check if someone really wanted/needed euthanasia 

2 - Want it to be made legal 

• Medicinal discoveries mean that people who would have dies are not kept alive (in agony) - should have the right to die 
• Doctors have right to switch off life support machines if the patient has no chance of recovering and allow people in comas for years to die - already forms of legal euthanasia 
• People have the right to commit suicide - should have right to ask for doctors to help if they are too weak to do it themselves 
• Euthanasia already given to suffering animals - no different 

Christian attitudes - 

1 - Catholics and many Liberal Protestants 

• Assisted suicide, voluntary euthanasia and non-voluntary euthanasia is all wrong 
• Switching off life support machines, not giving treatment that could cause distress and giving dying people painkillers is not euthanasia 
• Sanctity of life 
• Euthanasia is murder - forbidden in Ten Commandments 
• If doctors say someone is brain-dead, they have already died - switching off machine is accepting what God has already decided 
• Doctrine of double effect - if you give painkillers to a dying person in pain, and it kills them, it isn't murder because the intention was to relieve the pain (not kill them) 

2 - Some Christians 

• Any euthanasia is wrong (turning off life-support machines, refusal of extraordinary treatment, giving large doses of painkillers) etc. because life is being ended by humans, not God 
• Take Bible teaching literally - forbids suicide 
• All forms of euthanasia are murder - banned in Ten Commandments 
• Sanctity of life 

3 - A few christians 

• Accept euthanasia in some circumstances 
• Medical advances mean its hard to know what God's wishes for someone are 
• Love your neighbour - can justify assisted suicide, most loving thing to do 
• Basic human right to have control of your body and what people do to it - have right to refuse treatment, should have right to ask for euthanasia 

Jewish attitudes - 

1 - Many Jews (Orthodox) 

• Do not allow euthanasia 
• Torah bans suicide - assisted suicide is wrong 
• Voluntary euthanasia can be seen as the same as assisted suicide 
• Murder banned in Ten Commandments 
• Tenakh - death and life of someone is in the hands of God 

2 - Some Jews 

• Don't allow euthanasia but accept switching off life-support or not 'striving to stay alive' 
• Some rabbis have said switching off life-support for the brain-dead isn't euthanasia 
• Brain-dead - God has already taken their life 
• Striving to keep someone alive is prevent God from taking their soul - against God's wishes 

RELIGION AND LIFE 

2 - MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH 

Abortion - 

Law - only allowed if 2 doctors agree that: 

• the mothers life is at risk 
• the mothers physical/mental health is at risk 
• the child is likely to be born severely handicapped 
• would be a serious effect on other children in the family 
• must be before 24 weeks of pregnant (unless mothers life at risk/severe handicaps) 

Why it is controversial - 

• People believe life starts at the moment of conception - taking a human life 
• Life begins when foetus is able to live outside mother - abortion = not taking life 
• Non-religious - a mother should have the right to do what she wants with her body, unwanted foetus is no different from an unwanted tumour 
• Religious - unborn child's right to life is greater than the mothers rights 
• Time limit should be reduced to 18-20 weeks because of medical advances 
• Arguments about whether medical staff should be allowed to carry out abortions 

Christian attitudes - 

1 - Catholic Church and Evangelical Protestant Churches 

• All abortions (except medical treatments for the mother which unintentionally affect the life of the foetus) is wrong 
• Life belongs to God - only he has the right to end a pregnancy 
• Life begins at conception - taking life (banned in Ten Commandments) 
• Teachings of Catholic Catechism (and Evangelical Protestant Churches) = all abortion is murder 
• There are alternatives to abortion due to rape - counselling, adoption (good can come out of evil in a new life) 

2 - Other Christians (mainly Liberal Protestants) 

• Disagree with abortion but think it must be allowed in some circumstances 
• Life doesn't begin at conception 
• Love your neighbour - remove suffering 
• Sanctity of life can be broken in things like war - why not abortion? 
• Should be allowed abortion if medical tests for serious medical problems are positive 

Jewish attitudes - 

1 - Can never be allowed (mainly Orthodox) 

• Life begins at conception = murder 
• Sanctity of life - only God has the right to take it 

2 - Abortion is wrong but if mothers life is at risk then it is permissible 

• Sanctity of life - abortion is wrong 
• Torah - permits killing in self-defence, abortion is self-defence if mothers life is at risk 

3 - Believe in UK law on abortion 

• Believe Torah says that life doesn't begin until the foetus can survive on its own 
• Torah - must prevent avoidable suffering 
• Self-defence argument 

RELIGION AND LIFE 

2 - MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH

Christianity - 

Why they believe in life after death -

• Jesus rose from the dead - recorded in Gospels and New Testament 
• St Paul, 1 Corinthians - people will have a resurrection like that of Jesus
• Major creeds of the Church - Jesus rose from the dead and there will be life after death, Christians should believe the creeds 
• Christian Churches teach that there is life after death 
• Gives their life meaning and purpose - will be judged on how they have lived this life 

How this affects their life -

• Will get judged after death - should live good Christian life (follow teaching of Bible and Church) 
• Good Christian life - living God and loving your neighbour, will pray and worship on Sundays 
• Parable of the Sheep and Goats (Jesus) - Christians should feed the hungry, clothe the naked, befriend stangers, visit the sick and those in prison 
• Good Samaritan (Jesus) - loving your neighbour means helping anyone in need = working for charities such as Christian Aid, CAFOD etc 
• Sin can prevent people from going to heaven/those who die with unforgiven sins will go to hell - will avoid sinning in lives 

Judaism - 

Why they believe in life after death - 

• Teaching of the Tenakh (inspired by God) 
• Teaching of the Talmud (teaching of rabbis) 
• One of the Thirteen Principles of Faith (in Jewish creed) 
• Gives lives meaning and purpose - get judged on how they have lived this life (rewards/punishment) 

How this affects their life - 

• God will judge how they have lived their life after they've dies - must try to live good Jewish lives 
• Good Jewish life - observing Torah and halakhah, praying 3 times a day, fasting on Yom Kippur, keeping Shabbat, celebrating festivals etc. 
• Following mitzvot, keeping kosher, observing dress laws, not be involved in lending at interest/receiving interest etc. 
• Orthodox - confess sins before they die, help with funerals, keep shiva - (always aware of death) 
• Gives meaning and purpose - suffer less form depression than atheists and agnostics 

Non-religious (atheist) - 

1 - Near-death experiences 

• Someone is clinically dead for a period of time and then comes back to life and can remember what happened 
• Feelings of peace, floating above the body, seeing a bright light, entering a heavenly place (see dead relatives) 

2 - Evidence for spirit world 

• Ghosts, ouija boards 
• Mediums - someone who claims to be able to communicate between or material world and the spirit world (where the spirits of the dead live) 
• Mediums - claim religious leaders (Jesus, Muhammad) were in touch with spirit world 
• Mediums - spirit world gives people a second chance at life
• Mediums - contact dead relatives, give information that they wouldn't know without contact with the dead 

2 - Evidence of reincarnation 

• Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists believe in reincarnation and have evidence 

Not believing in life after death - 

• No God - no spirit world for life after death to occur 
• Different religions contradict each other (eg: Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism say reincarnation - Christianity, Islam and Judaism say resurrection/immortality of the soul)  - if it was true then they would all say the same 
• Evidence based on holy books - they contradict each other (no way of deciding which are true/false)
• Evidence of paranormal challenged by scientists 
• Most life after death beliefs revolve around mind/soul surviving without the body - science shows the mind can't live without the bran (body dies, mind dies) 
• No place where life after death could take place - space travels shows it is not above the sky 
• Brought up by atheists - won't believe 

RELIGION AND LIFE 

2 - MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH 

Key words - 
Abortion - remove of a foetus from the womb before it can survive 
Assisted suicide - providing a seriously ill person with the means to commit suicide (e.g: Dignitas in Switzerland) 
Euthanasia - painless killing of someone dying from a painful disease (e.g: active - doctor giving patient an overdose of muscle relaxants, passive - turning off life support machine/not carrying out life-saving operation) 
Non-voluntary euthanasia - ending someones life painlessly when they are unable to ask/agree to it but there is good reason for thinking they would want to do so 
Voluntary euthanasia - ending life painlessly when someone in great pain asks for death 
Immortality of the soul - idea that the soul lives on after the death of the body 
Near-death experience - when someone about to die has an out of body experience 
Paranormal - unexplained things that are thought to have spiritual causes
Quality of life - idea that life must have some benefits for it to be worth living 
Sanctity of life - belief that life is holy and belongs to God 
Reincarnation - belief that souls are reborn into a new body after death 
Resurrection - belief that (after death) the body stays in the grave until the end of the world when it is raised